Williams to face stewards over tyre infringement

Lance Stroll, Williams, Belgian Grand Prix practice

The Williams F1 team has been summoned to meet the Belgian Grand Prix race stewards, and faces a fine for an alleged infringement of rules governing tyre use in Free Practice 1 at Spa-Francorchamps.

The breach took place on Lance Stroll's car during Friday morning's session.

Under current Formula 1 regulations, drivers are allocated a set of tyres to use during the first 40 minutes of the 90-minute practice. At the end of that time they are supposed to hand back the set to Pirelli.

The rule was introduced to encourage teams to put in some early laps, and ensure the fans at the circuit are not left watching an empty track.

Because of an early red flag for Felipe Massa's accident, the time allowed for teams was extended by an extra nine minutes.

But FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer has reported that Lance Stroll used his initial set of tyres for two further stints after the allocated time limit expired.

"The set in question got re-used at 11:09 for six laps and again at 11:21 for four laps," Bauer noted.

It means that the matter has been referred to stewards for further consideration. A representative from Williams has been summoned to account for the additional use of the tyres. They have been told to report to stewards at 4pm local time.

Williams crew adds an extra pair of hands for Spa

If the report is upheld. Williams will most likely receive a fine for the breach. It's not thought likely that there will be any grid or race penalty affecting Stroll's weekend.

The team already has their hands full as a result of Massa's accident in the morning. Once the wreck was brought back to pit lane, mechanics found that the FW40's survival cell had been damaged.

It meant that the car had to be rebuilt with a new monocoque. The car will have to be re-scrutineered by FIA technical delegates overnight before taking part in Saturday's sessions.

As a result, Massa was forced to sit out Friday afternoon's session. He ran just three laps on the opening day. It's his first race back in action since being sidelined with vertigo-like symptoms at Hungary. That saw him replaced at short notice by Paul di Resta.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.