Albon out of Sao Paulo GP after qualifying crash

Alex Albon will not take part in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix due to his heavy crash late in Q3 during Sunday morning’s qualifying session.

Qualifying was postponed from Saturday due to heavy rain, and took place in wet conditions despite the extremely early 0730 start time, with multiple crashes delaying it further. Albon had impressed to sit a provisional second on the grid in the closing stages of Q3, but had a big crash at Turn 1 and says he won’t take part in the race as a result.

“I think we had an issue – I know we had an issue, we just need to go through it,” Albon said. “I don’t know. Immediately when I hit the brake pedal there was a beep in my ear which normally means there’s a failure, and then rear locking and a big crash. I mean, that’s us out for the race unfortunately…

“It won’t be fixed.”

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Despite his crash, Albon had still ended up seventh in the classification at the end of qualifying, but once his withdrawal is confirmed all other cars will move up a position. 

Teammate Franco Colapinto was first to crash in Q1 – going off at Turn 3 – and the multiple delays to the session meant it was another hour and a half before Williams could get the car back to analyze the damage on the rookie’s side of the garage. Colapinto, however, will make the race.

“A bit of wheelspin and I lost the rear very aggressively and I couldn’t recover it,” Colapinto said. “First time in the wet and a bit slippery, a bit of a mistake, and I'm very sorry for the guys in the garage. It’s a lot of work, let’s see if we can make it for the race but I’m very sorry for them.”

As well as the two Williams cars, both Aston Martins also sustained heavy damage in crashes, as did Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.