SILVERSTONE -- Toro Rosso has been cleared to race at the British Grand Prix after voluntarily replacing a part the stewards had deemed to be unsafe on Thursday.
Toro Rosso was called in front of the Silverstone stewards after presenting a car with a wheel tether the stewards found to be damaged in its initial scrutineering check. When Toro Rosso was made aware of the issue, the team failed to fix it properly.
The original report from technical delegate Jo Bauer said "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."
Toro Rosso was alleged to be in breach of Article 3.3 of the Sporting Regulations, which states that cars presented for scrutineering must be deemed to be "in an implicit statement of conformity", as well as Article 12.1.1.b of the FIA International Sporting Code, which states a team will be in breach of the regulations if it enters a car into a competition knowing it is ineligible under the regulations.
On Friday, the stewards released a report stating the facts of the case having summoned No.55 -- Carlos Sainz's car -- for a further check. That report explained that the team had voluntarily replaced the part overnight, therefore passing scrutineering. It also clarified several facts around the issue:
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.
The FIA says it also considered the presence of knots in the tether, but was satisfied by the team and manufacturer's explanation that these are standard in tethers and that they had been tested for use and homologated. The governing body will "review the manufacturing process associated with these tethers" to continue its push to improve all aspects of safety in F1.