Manhole incident ’nothing to do with FIA’ - Salo

Williams will seek to be compensated for damage caused to George Russell’s chassis on Friday.

The British driver ran over a manhole cover that had been loosened by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

"It just seems like it’s one thing after another for our team at the moment," team boss Claire Williams said.

She didn’t put a dollar figure on the damage caused, but indicated that the struggling British team will seek compensation.

"It’s a little premature to actually quantify the cost, but we will be doing it and we clearly will be discussing that with the FIA," said Williams.

George Russell agreed: "I am not aware of all the details, but we will definitely discuss the situation with the FIA. I think our team has the right to seek compensation."

Former F1 driver Mika Salo is one of the stewards this weekend in Azerbaijan.

He said: "The covers have been repaired for two weeks, but I don’t really know any more."

Salo told Ilta Sanomat newspaper that all of the other 300 manhole covers were checked after the Russell incident.

"They were good, but that one was broken," said the Finn.

In 2017, Romain Grosjean’s Haas was damaged by a manhole cover in Malaysia. The Sepang circuit later compensated the team.

Salo said of the Baku incident: "It is not in our hands at all, it’s down to the local organisers. The whole thing has nothing to do with the FIA."