Following Lance Stroll’s crash on Wednesday, the Williams Martini Racing team will not participate in the final day of the first pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Canadian lost control of the FW40 on his 99th lap of the day yesterday on the exit of turn five, hitting the barrier and causing damage to the front end of the car, but after overnight inspections, it was revealed that the damage also extended to the chassis.
As a result, it was decided that, on safety grounds, they would need to withdraw from Thursday’s scheduled wet weather running in order to prepare a second chassis for next week’s second test at the circuit, that starts on March 7.
It has been a rude awakening to Formula 1 for 2016 FIA European Formula 3 Champion Stroll, who spun out of testing on Tuesday after just 12 laps, and had also had a moment earlier on Wednesday with a spin.
Felipe Massa had been scheduled to run the wet weather test on Thursday, with Pirelli looking to see how their new-for-2017 full wet and intermediate tyres work. Just nine teams will therefore be running on Thursday, with the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team and Scuderia Ferrari having led the way in the dry running on the opening three days.
