Alexander Albon has been dropped to 19th on the grid for the sprint race after the stewards ruled he exceeded track limits in the first round of qualifying.
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The Williams driver was initially allowed to take part in SQ2 because stewards first upheld his fastest SQ1 time. If that SQ1 time had been deleted at the time, Liam Lawson would have advanced to the second stage of qualifying for the sprint.
Racing Bulls, Lawson’s team, expected Albon’s SQ1 time to be deleted after the Williams driver ran wide at turn six. They kept Lawson in his car ahead of SQ2 in case the lap was removed, but Albon’s time was initially retained and he was permitted to continue.
During SQ3, race control revisited the decision and summoned Albon to meet the stewards over a potential track limits breach.
“Alex did track limits, but I think they realised too late and because he’d already gone out on track,” Lawson said. “I honestly can’t understand how that’s possible. But from our understanding he’s literally done track limits and then gone through to [S]Q2.”
Hours after qualifying finished, the stewards concluded Albon had indeed exceeded track limits. They deleted his lap time from the SQ1 lap in question and removed all his SQ2 lap times as a consequence.
The stewards stated Albon “clearly exceeded track limits in turn six.”
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“However this was not reported to the stewards until SQ2 had commenced,” they explained. “Car 23’s time recorded on the lap that track limits were exceeded was sufficient to place it in SQ2. Hence at the time the Stewards were informed that Car 23 had left the track and that its lap should have been potentially deleted, it was already on track in SQ2.
“As this was an unusual situation, the stewards have decided to settle the matter by exercising their authority under Article 11.7.1.a of the International Sporting Code by deleting the lap time of the lap in question in SQ1. As Car 23 should not have proceeded into SQ2, all lap times from SQ2 will consequently be deleted.”
In addition to Albon’s deletions, the stewards removed nine other lap times from six different drivers for track limits breaches; only one of those involved turn six.
This is not the first time a late track limits finding has affected qualifying progression. Sergio Perez lost nine grid places at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix after stewards belatedly identified a track limits breach that should have prevented him advancing beyond Q2, a decision that also prevented Pierre Gasly from taking part in Q3.
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