George Russell won't be on track again on Friday as a result of his incident with a drain cover in Baku.

The Briton was a complete victim as he ran over the loose manhole cover on the run to Turn 3 during first practice, an incident that caused the cancellation of the session.

As a result, however, the damage has meant Russell needs a new chassis and under the regulations, Williams will not be able to get it scrutineered before final practice on Saturday morning.

“I haven’t had a chat with George yet, he looks alright from what I can see,” deputy team boss Claire Williams told the BBC shortly after the smash. 

“I think there’s inevitably going to be quite a lot of damage. You can see from the TV that’s just taken the whole underside out. That is not helpful for us at the moment.”

Loose drains on street circuits are not a new problem because of the incredible forces of the F1 car literally sucking them out the ground.

However, Williams was livid by the incident and wasn't too pleased with race officials.

“The circuit needs to make sure that their drain covers are bolted down properly, that’s just not acceptable," she added.

"The damage that can do could put us out this afternoon. We have another chassis that we might need to bring in and that’s not what Formula 1 tracks should be.”

Famously, Romain Grosjean's Haas was badly damaged after a cover came loose at Sepang in 2017 with the team receiving compensation from the Malaysian circuit for the cost.

A similar situation might just take place again between Baku and the British team in this case too.