Formula 1

Williams to appeal Massa’s Brazilian disqualifcation

2 Mins read

The Williams Martini Racing team will appeal the decision to disqualify Felipe Massa from his eighth place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Brazilian driver was removed from the final result after the tyre temperature on his right-rear tyre was found to be 27 degrees centigrade above the maximum limit of 110 degrees centigrade at the start of the race, but Williams believe the tyres were within the limits set out by Pirelli.

Williams believe three independent sensors on Massa’s car indicate the tyre in question was at a lower temperature than the FIA’s reading, and have questioned the temperature found by the FIA.

“The notice of appeal that we will make is based around the fact we have three independent temperature readings and all of them say how we are within the limits set by Pirelli and the prescriptions for this event,” said Rob Smedley, the Williams Head of Performance Engineering.

“They explained to us that this is the reference measurement because it is the FIA measurement so this is the one that counts. The other three we have are of less consequence.

“If you read the document, the right rear tyre of car #19, Massa, on the FIA IR Gun read 137 degrees. We have two independent sensors, the first one is the PT1000 which sits inside the tyre blanket and tells us what the surface temperature is and that one was always in compliance with the regulations.

“The last time we could read it, when they took the set off to the grid, it was about 104 degrees. The next independent measure we have is from the car data, this is a completely independent measure and the right rear tyre of Massa’s car was 105.7C.

“So we have two independent sensors which both say we were in compliance with the regulations and we have data to back that up. In addition, we have had independent correlation from our blanket temperature sensors and car temperature sensors to the FIA guns, which Pirelli did for us after all the fuss with Mercedes in Italy.

“We have also bought exactly the same sensor that the FIA uses and we do random checks throughout the weekend to make sure this does not happen. For us it’s quite critical for us that we understand where his problem is.

“We have three independent temperature measures and none of them give anything like the measure the FIA took on the grid.”

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