29/10/2018
NEWS STORY
Williams has been fined for an incident that followed Lance Stroll's second pit stop in Mexico.
As the Canadian returned to the track, a member of the crew was knocked over in an incident similar to that of Ferrari in Bahrain. At that time, the Italian team was fined 50,000 euros for the incident in which a crew member suffered a broken leg.
Though yesterday's incident didn't involve injury, the stewards, having reviewed the video evidence of the pit stop and heard from a team representative, deemed that the car was released unsafely in breach of Art. 28.13 a). The team released the car in a manner endangering team personnel.
The Stewards determined that the entire pit stop sequence was complete and that the mechanic being struck was as a result of a minor mis-coordination at the conclusion of the pit stop sequence.
Nevertheless, while the contact did not result in injury, the stewards found that it is the obligation of the team to ensure that all personnel are clear of the car before it is released.
In determining the penalty - a 25,000 euro fine - the stewards reviewed the incident in Bahrain. In that case the sequence on the left rear tyre was significantly delayed and not at all completed prior to the car being released, resulting in serious injury to a team member.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Mexico City, here.