Alex Albon won’t begin the Brazilian Grand Prix after a heavy crash throughout an accident-filled qualifying session.
With heavy rain resulting in Saturday’s qualifying being rescheduled for 7:30am native time on Sunday morning, the situations had solely barely improved by the point vehicles took to the observe.
Albon’s Williams team-mate Franco Colapinto was the first to bring out one of four red flags throughout qualifying as difficult situations led to vehicles being strewn throughout the Interlagos observe.
Mexico Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz then introduced out one other purple flag in Q2, earlier than Lance Stroll’s crash introduced a untimely finish to the session, which resulted within the championship chief Max Verstappen being eliminated.
The second Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso then shunted earlier than Albon had the most important crash of all, spinning off at Flip 1 at a time when he was sitting a provisional second on the grid.
“I believe we had a problem; I do know we had a problem, we simply must undergo it,” Albon stated of the incident that noticed him hit the wall.
“Instantly after I hit the brake pedal there was a beep in my ear which usually means there’s a failure, rear locking and a giant crash. In order that’s us out for the race sadly… so yeah.”
Requested to substantiate if he meant his automotive wouldn’t be rebuilt in time for the grand prix, which was introduced ahead to begin at 3:30pm native time, he replied: “No, it gained’t be mounted.”
Alex Albon, Williams FW46, will get out of the automotive after crashing out of Qualifying
Picture by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Photos
After the Q3 session resumed following Albon’s crash, instances improved and left the Williams man in seventh place.
Nevertheless, his withdrawal from the race might be a blow to Williams in its constructors’ battle for eighth place with Alpine, which is only a level behind in ninth.
With Albon out and Colapinto additionally crashing in Q1, Esteban Ocon put his Alpine on the second row, the place he’ll begin fourth alongside Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.