Alex Albon is out of the Brazilian Grand Prix having
declared his Williams “won’t be fixed” after his qualifying crash, the team
confirming this an hour before the race.
Formula 1 is on a tight schedule after Saturday’s deluge
resulted in qualifying being postponed to Sunday morning. But with more heavy
forecast for Sunday late afternoon, the Grand Prix was also moved forward.
Five red flags in qualifying for the Brazilian GP
7:30am and 12:30pm local were the new start times, giving
the teams just four hours from the end of qualifying until the formation lap
would leave the grid. And then four hours became three.
Sunday
morning’s qualifying was blighted by red flags as drivers spun off the
circuit in the wet, with several hard crashes. None though, were harder
than Albon‘s.
The Thai-British racer, who made it through to the pole
position shoot-out and was sitting P2 behind Lando Norris on the timesheet,
lost it on the run down to Turn 1 as he locked the wheel, spun and hit the
barrier hard with the front left. That spun the car around and he hit again
with the rear before bouncing off the barrier such was the force of the impact.
Bits of carbon fibre, the rear of the car shattered, the
sides not faring much better, and the front left wheel hanging on by its
teether.
Albon, who was seen nursing his wrist, was worried his
Williams won’t be repaired in time for the race.
“I’m out, for sure, there’s no way,” he told Viaplay.
Asked to clarify that he’s not going to race, he replied:
“There’s no way.”
Although Williams initially said the driver had jumped the
gun, an hour before the start of the race team boss James Vowles confirmed
Albon would not contest the Grand Prix.
Vowles said: “It’s a heartbreaking day for the team. We’re
here to go racing and nobody wants to be in this situation. The most important
point is that all the drivers who had incidents in 2ualifying are okay,
including Alex and Franco.
“Despite the best efforts of our hard-working, talented and
resilient team, there simply was not enough time to repair Alex’s car in time
for the Grand Prix. It’s a bitter pill to swallow at the end of a tough
triple-header, especially when both drivers showed tremendous pace this
morning.
“We will focus on maximising this afternoon with Franco and
putting on a show for the incredible fans here in Brazil.”
Unlike in Australia when Albon was given Logan Sargeant’s
car after damaging his own in a car, this time he was out of luck as his new
team-mate Franco Colapinto also crashed.
The Argentinean driver caused the first of the five red
flags as he lost it at Turn 3. But as his damage was by no means as severe as
Albon’s, Williams are repairing his FW46 and he’ll line up on the grid.
Carlos Sainz was the second driver to crash, out in Q2, as he spun out of Turn 2 and rear-ended the barrier.
.webp)
