Williams team principal James Vowles has addressed late deletion of Nico Hulkenberg’s lap, which if done at the right time, would have meant Alex Albon would have progressed to Q2 in Bahrain.
Albon narrowly missed progressing into Q2 during the Bahrain qualifying session after leaving it too late to finish his final flying lap. However, 45 minutes after his lap infringement, the FIA deleted Hulkenberg’s lap time. This means he now starts in 16th tomorrow.
If this had been decided at the time, Albon would have progressed to Q2 and had the opportunity to fight for a better start for Sunday’s Grand Prix. While speaking with Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz, Vowles addressed whether he felt it was an injustice to Albon. He explained:
“Yeah, I’m not feeling good about this. It’s frustrating. Obviously the track limits are analysed live, but the result for Hulkenberg came way after we would have had an opportunity to go to Q2, and today Alex had the pace to make it all the way to Q3.
“I think in Q1 it wasn’t the best out lap and we were blocked quite significantly.
“What we need to understand, and I’m waiting for a report from the FIA, is why was this analysed so much later than that, because it’s not one position gained, it could be many positions.”
Alex Albon, Williams
Photo by: Bryn Lennon – Getty Images
He added:
“I mean, as I said, on us is the fact that he’s out in Q1. We got blocked in the pit lane, simple as that. But what I’d like to understand now is, is why this happened, and obviously, it’s not going to rectify the position. The position will still be where it is on the grid.”
When asked if this is something that the FIA has automated or not, Vowles responded:
“That’s a good question. One more one for the FIA. I believe they have some level of automation. I believe they do have a race control. I’m not sure.
“Let’s have a look at the document when it comes out. Why this was so late and why wasn’t it picked up live. There were plenty to have picked up live.”
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