Williams has blamed Lance Stroll’s punctures at the Monaco Grand Prix on an overheating wheel rim, caused by the brakes becoming too hot.
Williams suffered another dismal event as both Stroll and team-mate Sergey Sirotkin were hampered by problems that scuppered their slim points aspirations.
Stroll started the race from 17th on the grid but suffered two punctures in the race and eventually came home as the last of the 17 classified runners, two laps down.
Sirotkin, meanwhile, was hindered by a 10-second stop/go penalty that came after Williams failed to fit his tyres prior to the three-minute signal pre-race, and was 16th.
“Lance had a puncture on lap nine due to the brakes becoming too hot, which overheated the rim and caused the failure,” said technical chief Paddy Lowe.
“We failed to control that on the second set of tyres and he suffered another puncture. The issue was managed for the rest of the race, but with so many pitstops and blue flags, Lance was in no position to make any progress.
“On Sergey’s side, we suffered a wheel assembly problem on the grid which meant we fitted the wheels after the three-minute deadline.
“His race was ruined [after the penalty]. He spent the afternoon in that situation suffering constant blue flags. We converted to a two-stop strategy as that is actually the quickest race if you’re not holding a position.
“It was good to see that he could put in some quick laps at the end whilst in free air.”
Stroll expressed his frustration at the outcome of the race, commenting: “It was a pretty terrible day.
“I got a puncture on lap nine and lost a bunch of time, like a lap, just getting to the pits. After that, I was busy letting cars through with blue flags as I was a lap down.
“Then we had temperature problems all race, and I was told to give gaps and let cars by, so there was not much of an opportunity and we just weren't racing.”
Williams remains at the foot of the 10-team Constructors’ Championship, with just four points.
