Alex Albon disqualified from Dutch Grand Prix qualifying
The Thai driver's single-seater was declared non-compliant because its floor did not comply with the regulatory volume.
Black weekend for Williams F1 at Zandvoort. Already without one car in qualifying after the huge crash of Logan Sargeant during the third free practice session, the British team saw its other driver lose his excellent position on the grid.
Indeed, Alex Albon had managed to climb to eighth place consistently, allowing him to nurture hopes of scoring points during the race on a track where it is difficult to overtake. The story was beautiful but the stewards decided to darken the picture.
By analyzing the dimensions of the chassis of single-seater number 23, they realized that it exceeded the regulatory volume mentioned in article 3.5.1a of the technical rules established by the FIA.
The team did not seek to challenge the measuring tools of the sports organization but still specified that its own measurements had produced different results. However, the stewards considered that the values recorded in the Parc Fermé after the qualifications were correct and therefore applied a penalty to Carlos Sainz’s future team.
Very heavy penalty as it is simply a disqualification. The two Williams will thus start from the back of the grid, unless James Vowles’ team decides to take advantage of changing some elements of the cars and have them start from the pits.
This disqualification allows all drivers classified behind Albon to move up one position. Thus, the two Aston Martins will share the fourth row on Sunday, followed by Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz. Penalized three places for obstructing Sergio Perez in Q1, Lewis Hamilton moves up to 14th place.
