No Further Action Warranted over Toro Rosso Scrutineering Issue

Scuderia Toro Rosso will face no further action from the stewards at Silverstone despite scrutineers finding an apparent damaged wheel tether on Carlos Sainz Jr’s car on Thursday.

The FIA had summoned the team to explain itself after they initially said they would not be replacing the tether, and although the team have gone on to replace the part, stewards have deemed that Toro Rosso had no intention to mislead the scrutineers.

The team and the wheel tether suppliers have also revealed that the knots in question have been part of the system before, and have been tested and homologated previously.

The FIA Statement in Full

The stewards having received a report from the Technical Delegate (document 5) indicating that, from initial scrutineering of car no.55 (Scuderia Toro Rosso), it was found to have a damaged wheel tether tape.

Having summoned (document 6), and heard from the relevant team, Technical Delegate and after receiving a statement from the manufacturer of the tether in question, the facts are:

1. The Car that was presented for initial scrutineering was not in compliance with the Regulations because:
   a) The protection of the fibers should not be damaged, as it was in this particular case;
   b) There were signs of dust, which could be brake dust, which is not good for the fibers;
   c) And the fibers in question had signs of wear.
2. The Car therefore could not pass scrutineering until the relevant part had been replaced.
3. The Stewards are satisfied that there was no intention by the team to mislead the scrutineers.
4. The relevant part has since been voluntarily replaced by the team and the Car has passed scrutineering.

An additional issue that the Stewards considered was the presence of knots within the tether. The Stewards were informed by the team and the relevant manufacturer that these were standard in tethers and have been duly tested for use and homologated with these knots present.

FIA as part of its ongoing efforts to promote safety in motorsports will review the manufacturing process associated with these tethers.