Albon disqualified and Hamilton penalised post-qualifying

Alex Albon and Lewis Hamilton kept the stewards busy after Qualifying in the Netherlands, with the Williams driver disqualified from classification and the Mercedes driver handed a three-place grid penalty post-session.

After a nightmare crash for the Williams garage which saw Logan Sargeant forced to sit out of qualifying, things were looking positive for the #23’s side of the garage after Albon secured a Q3 entry in the tough session.

The Thai driver excelled in the middle stage, advancing through to the top ten shootout as expected by James Vowles, Williams Team Principal.

But despite qualifying in P8 and originally securing a place on Row 4 alongside Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon was dealt a painful penalty well after the chequered flag was waved.

The FW46 failed post-qualifying scrutineering, with the floor body found to “lie outside the regulatory volume mentioned in Article 3.5.1 a) of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations”.

The floor is one of five new components Williams has brought to the Netherlands, being fitted to both cars before Sargeant’s fiery crash.

“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’ statement read.

“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.”

As a result of the exclusion from classification, Albon will now start the Dutch Grand Prix from the back of the grid, alongside his teammate. 

The team issued a short response on social media, saying:

“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.”

Reporting to the FIA, the team earlier described the upgrade “as part of a completely new floor geometry”.

“The height of the forward floor is increased, and the fences are reprofiled.

“The floor edges are updated with more pronounced finger geometry.

“We have reprofiled the front of the floor body and the local fence curvatures to offer a local load improvement and to also enhance the onset flow to the new floor edge wing geometry.”

Mechanics push Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15, back into the garage during qualifying at the Dutch GP. Image: Simon Galloway / LAT Images.

Lewis Hamilton was handed a three-place grid penalty after the session for impeding Sergio Perez during an early incident in Q1. 

On a flying lap, Perez encountered a slow-moving Mercedes as he rounded Turn 9, jumping on the radio to call the seven-time world champion an “idiot” as he was forced to abandon the attempt.

The moment forced Perez to use two sets of soft tyres in the opening 18-minute session, leaving the Red Bull driver angry as he awaited his Q2 run. 

Originally set to line up from P12, Hamilton will now take the start from P14 as a result of his penalty.

“The driver of Car 44, being on an in lap, was informed by the team that Car 11 was approaching on a fast lap when he entered Turn 8,” the stewards confirmed.

“He then drove off line at the exit of Turn 8 with the intention to give way for Car 11.

“However, when Car 11 arrived, Car 44 had already entered Turn 9 and drove back towards the racing line at the exit of Turn 9, thereby clearly impeding Car 11.

“The Stewards determine that, whilst there has been appropriate warning by the team and albeit the driver tried to move out of the way, he could have slowed down more in order not to impede the other car and therefore consider the impeding to be unnecessary in the sense of the regulations.

“Therefore a grid drop is applied in line with previous decisions.”

As for the drivers benefiting from these penalties, Carlos Sainz will now start within the Top 10, boosted by his future teammate’s disqualification after a subpar session for the Ferrari driver. 

He will now have Yuki Tsunoda behind in 11th, followed by Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.

A slight positive for Daniel Ricciardo after a poor day out, the Australian will inherit one position for the start of the Dutch Grand Prix, lining up behind Hamilton in P15.

Lights out for the Dutch Grand Prix will take place at 11:00 PM.

Image: Simon Galloway / LAT Images

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