Albon disqualified for technical infringement

Having secured an impressive starting position for tomorrow’s Dutch Grand Prix, Williams driver Alexander Albon has been didqualified from today’s qualifying session.

The London-born Thai driver enjoyed a successful qualifying today, securing eighth on the grid. The impressive result was a confirmation of Williams’ latest upgrade package that the team introduced at Zandvoort on Friday.

However, a report from Jo Bauer, the FIA F1 Technical Delegate, noted a potential issue relating to that floor body post-qualifying, with the matter being passed on to the stewards.

Interestingly, the upgrade kit centred around the floor which features a completely revised geometry compared to the previous version.

The FIA’s measurements showed that the new floor was outside the regulatory volume mentioned in Article 3.5.1 of the technical regulation. The infringement forced the stewards to exclude Albon from today’s qualifying, which will see the Thai driver start from the back of the grid.

The stewards’ verdict read: “The Stewards heard from the team representatives of Car 23 (Alexander Albon), the FIA Technical Delegate, the FIA Scrutineer conducting the measurement of the car and the FIA Single Seater Director.

“The floor body of Car 23 was found to lie outside the regulatory volume mentioned in Article 3.5.1 a) of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.

“The team did not dispute the calibration of the FIA measuring system and the measurement of the car, but stated that their own measurements have produced different results.

“The Stewards determine that the result of the measurement conducted with the FIA system in Parc Ferme is the relevant one and the due process prescribed by the regulations has been followed. Therefore the standard penalty for such an infringement is applied.”

Williams have confirmed that they will carry out an investigation to find out the reason for the technical infringement.

“Unfortunately, Alex has been disqualified from Qualifying today due to his floor body being outside the regulatory volume set by the FIA.

“We are incredibly disappointed with this outcome and will be carrying out a thorough investigation and will provide an update soon.”