Mercedes and Audi will not face penalties after breaking the FIA curfew at the Red Bull Ring ahead of Sunday's Formula One Austrian Grand Prix.
The violations occurred before George Russell claimed pole position for Mercedes on Sunday, with official documentation confirming both teams remained within permitted operational limits.
The governing body outlined the specifics of the incident involving the bracket of personnel associated with the Brackley-based squad.
"Last night team personnel of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, who are associated with the operation of the car, were within the confines of the circuit during the eleven and a half (11.5) hour period which commenced at 22:00 on 26 June," stated the FIA.
Officials clarified that the occurrence would not trigger sporting sanctions under the current championship regulations.
"This was the first (1) of the four (4) individual exceptions permitted for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team during the 2026 Formula One Championship season and therefore no action should be taken," the FIA added.
Audi utilized their second exception of the year for a similar infraction, while Williams and Cadillac had already invoked their own curfew jokers earlier on Thursday evening to install vehicle updates, according to reports from crash.
net.
Williams Explains Chassis Change
Williams Team Principal James Vowles addressed the necessity of using an exception to fit new Mercedes power unit elements to both cars.
"We have new ESME packs, which I think Mercedes are pretty open about," said Vowles.
Vowles noted that the delayed delivery of the components required extended garage hours to ensure safe deployment.
"We wanted to take that, but it only really appeared at 3pm on Thursday, and we had a tremendous amount of work to do.
So I wanted to make sure the cars are properly prepared," said Vowles.
The Williams chief also detailed why Alex Albon swapped to a different FW48 chassis after experiencing setup issues during recent events.
"There's nothing wrong with the original chassis, but what we wanted to do after Barcelona is specifically capture that and do a series of tests back at the factory," said Vowles.
He minimized concerns regarding any underlying structural flaws in the discarded monocoque, highlighting modern design strengths.
"As a result of that, basically changing chassis is one of the easiest ways of doing it from an operational perspective.
It's also something that we're used to doing for a number of reasons as you move forward," said Vowles.
Vowles dismissed historic superstitions regarding unpredictable chassis performance variations that used to trouble teams.
"A long time ago there were ‘ghosts’ in chassis. I don't think I've heard that for a long, long time.
The amount of force we put through it as a double-decker bus on top of it, so I assure you they don't move anymore," said Vowles.
The engineering team concentrated on resolving handling asymmetries that had compromised cornering performance.
"In terms of what Alex is talking about, what we have seen several times this year is the balance isn't where we need it to be, and slightly differs between left and right corners," said Vowles.
High track temperatures at the Spielberg circuit exacerbated the subtle imbalance, driving the team to conduct extensive laboratory tests.
"That's the main thing he's complaining about.
It isn't a large difference, but it is enough that when you're really finely balanced and trying to get the most out of the tyres in a 50-something degree track, it gets exposed more than you would do at other circuits, and that's part of the reason for making sure we did rig work back at the factory," said Vowles.
Vowles concluded by expressing confidence that the adjustments implemented for the Grand Prix weekend successfully addressed the driver's complaints.
"The good news is that was very positive and developed, and we made some changes here, just in small details and setting up.
So I think that's an item of the past," said Vowles.
