Toro Rosso has been reported to the stewards after their car was found ‘unsafe’ during scrutineering ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
Scrutineers found the car, belonging to Carlos Sainz, was presented with damage to a wheel tether, something all cars must have fitted to prevents the wheel from falling off in an accident.
The junior Red Bull was informed and asked to fix the damage, however, the team decided to overlook the request.
After further inspections, it was found that the team knew of the damage and subsequently deemed in breach of Article 12.1.1.b of the FIA International Sporting Code that states “it is an offence to enter a car that is known to be ‘ineligible’”.
“During initial scrutineering car number 55 was found to have a damaged wheel tether. The scrutineers made the team Scuderia Toro Rosso aware of this and asked the team to replace it,” the statement submitted to the stewards read.
“The team refused to follow the instructions of the scrutineers and therefore the technical delegate checked the damaged tether himself and found that the tether was not only damaged but also several cut fibres were knotted together.
“Therefore the team was aware of the damaged tether and presented the car in an unsafe condition for scrutineering.”
With the FIA insisting on extremely high standards of safety, it is likely Toro Rosso will have no choice but to change the tether before the car is cleared to take part in practice on Friday.
