Barcelona GP: Williams hit with two €5,000 fines for grid procedure breaches

Williams’ difficult Barcelona weekend has taken another procedural hit, with the team receiving two separate €5,000 fines for infringements linked to the start procedure ahead of the grand prix.

Williams penalised after grid equipment breaches

The first infringement related to Carlos Sainz. According to the stewards, the issue involved ‘a black plastic box on the grass area next to the grid’, which was not retrieved before the required signal was given. That was enough for officials to determine that Williams had breached the starting procedure.

Albon case involved tyre blanket parts

Alex Albon’s case was separate but similar in nature. The stewards found that when Car 23 was released from its jacks before the formation lap, parts of the right-front tyre blanket became trapped beneath the car.

In their explanation, the stewards stated: “When Car 23 was released from its jacks before the start of the formation lap parts of the right front tyre blanket got caught under the car.”

Williams attempted to resolve the problem before the formation lap began, but the effort was unsuccessful. The stewards added: “Although the team tried to remove the parts before the start of the formation lap, these attempts were unsuccessful and car left with a cable still hanging off the car and the team thereby did not take all of their equipment with them after the 15-second signal.”

Another blow on a tough weekend

Each incident resulted in a €5,000 fine, taking the team’s total penalty to €10,000 for the two start-procedure breaches.

While neither case was described as a sporting penalty affecting the race result, the outcome underlines how tightly controlled the pre-start window is in Formula 1. For Williams, already short of performance in Barcelona, the fines represented another unwelcome complication on a weekend that had offered little margin for error.