No further action against Toro Rosso over 'unsafe' car

Damage was found to a wheel tether on Sainz's car during scrutineering on Thursday, and the FIA summoned the team to explain itself, saying the Faenza-based squad had refused to rectify the issue.

However, on Friday, the stewards said they were satisfied that Toro Rosso had no intention to mislead the scrutineers and that the team had agreed to replace the damaged part.

The ruling body therefore deemed no further action was warranted.

The full statement from the stewards:

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.