Williams has been referred to the Chinese Grand Prix stewards by Formula 1 technical delegate Jo Bauer for a highly unusual reason.
Clamping down on flexible bodywork has been a key mission of the FIA lately and to do so it’s supplied teams with both forward and rearward facing onboard cameras to monitor wing flexibility.
The FIA requires the teams to send the video files of what the cameras capture after each session but it appears Williams failed to do so after the opening practice session in China.
Bauer says Williams “failed to provide the video files recorded by the wireless forward and rearward facing cameras within one hour after the end of the first free practice session” as they’re instructed to by technical directive 34L - issued to teams before the Australian Grand Prix.
That footage helps the FIA monitor the rear wing flexing that’s been a big talking point of F1 2025 so far.
It was the FIA’s monitoring of wing flexing across the Australian GP that led to the immediate change to the technical regulations - with the maximum tolerance for the rear wing slot gap flexing cut from 2mm to 0.5mm (with an extra 0.25mm tolerance for China-only).
The matter is now in the hands of the stewards, who have asked Williams representatives to report to them at 8.30am local time on Saturday.
Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz qualified ninth and 13th for the China sprint race.
