Williams changed manufacturer after seatbelt issue

Valtteri Bottas has revealed that Williams has taken swift action after investigating the seatbelt issue he suffered during the Singapore Grand Prix, which includes a change of manufacturer.

Bottas’ seatbelt came undone nearly halfway through F1’s night contest, with the 27-year-old having to pit shortly after so a mechanic could fix the problem.

The British team duly launched a probe into the incident and while the origin of the mishap was not entirely identified, Williams has moved quickly to prevent a recurrence.

“We actually don’t know exactly what happened, what caused the problem.” Bottas said ahead of this weekend’s Malaysian GP.

“But we already took some actions to make sure it doesn’t happen again, like changing manufacturer or changing some other things before this weekend. We need to do some tests in the next few races to make all the changes we want to do.”

When asked for his recollection of the events, the Finn added: “Some bits of the belts they opened, not completely as they were still attached.

“I did less than one lap [with the problem], and it was OK. You obviously try not to crash but I didn’t slow down much.

“It’s not the first time this happens, it happened to me two years ago in Brazil, so we definitively need to make some changes and that’s what we’re going to do.”

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