Australian Grand Prix: Williams driver Alexander Albon disqualified from qualifying over fuel irregularity

ByJames Messenger

Published 09/04/2022 at 12:50 GMT

It has been announced that Alexander Albon, who qualified 16th at the Australian Grand Prix, has been disqualified from the session after Williams failed to provide the FIA with a sufficient fuel sample from his car. The news compounds a bad day for the team, with Nicholas Latifi also crashing out in Q1 after colliding with Lance Stroll, who has since been given a three-place grid penalty.

Alexander Albon has been disqualified from Australian Grand Prix qualifying after Williams failed to provide the FIA with a sufficient fuel sample from his car.

The British-born Thai driver had qualified 16th in Melbourne but was unable to return to the pits after being eliminated from Q1, instead stopping out on the track.

It has now been confirmed that Albon’s team were unable to provide the required one-litre fuel sample from his FW44 car.

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However, he will be allowed to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid.

The news compounds a difficult afternoon for Williams, who saw Nicholas Latifi crash out of qualifying after a high-speed collision with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

The incident, which led to Latifi’s spinning car hitting the barrier at high speed, led to one of two red flags during an action-packed qualifying session.

"For me, it’s quite clear. I’ve just seen the video before coming here,” he told Sky Sports following the crash. "I was preparing my out-lap, and it seems like he just turned into me once I was alongside him.

"There’s not much more to say besides that. I let him through because he was pushing, or so I was told. Then I saw he had aborted the lap, so I wanted to carry on with my own preparation lap.

Pole position qualifier Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Ferrari celebrates in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on April 09, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia

Image credit: Getty Images

"I went back past him; obviously there was a big gap, and once I got past him, for whatever reason he decided to turn.”

It has since been confirmed that Stroll had been handed a three-place grid penalty as a result, although he was due to start at the back of the grid after failing to set a time in Q1 prior to the incident.

The Canadian has also had two penalty points added to his licence.

Charles Leclerc will start tomorrow’s race on pole position, ahead of the two Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

The action commences at 06:00 UK time.

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