Williams team boss James Vowles has shed light on Alex Albon’s shock disqualification from Saturday’s Dutch Grand Prix qualifying, revealing that the exclusion was caused by a “wrong measurement” by the team of the FW45’s new floor element.
Alex Albon had qualified an impressive P8 in the grid-defining session, a performance that represented a season-best for the team.
Alas, a post-session scrutineering check revealed that the floor body of the Anglo-Thai racer’s Williams exceeded F1’s regulatory dimensions.
Vowles explained that the team had conducted multiple scans of the car before this weekend’s event and believed that it was compliant with the regulations. However, the FIA's measurements indicated that the floor body was too wide.
"The facts are we were disqualified for a floor that was too wide," Vowles explained in a video published on social media.
"The floor we have here this weekend, in fact, the whole bodywork and number of items are all new.
“It’s not the first time we’ve been scanned; we’ve obviously been following and complying to all of these procedures since they were brought into place several years ago and haven’t been found in excess until now."
Vowles went on to clarify that Williams had conducted multiple checks at their base in Grove, as well as on-site at Zandvoort, and had not detected any irregularities.
"We use scanning techniques now rather than physical measuring techniques because it’s not just one point that you have to be aware of, and it’s heights and widths all across some quite complex shapes,” he explained.
“Before we come here, we have scanned the floor and the car multiple times. It happened back at the factory in isolation with the floor, it happened back at the factory on the car, it happened here on Thursday as well.
"And we did demonstrate all of these results to the FIA, which indicate that our floor is within the legal compliance, but what matters is the adjudication of the FIA, their measurements and their systems, and that we entirely accept.”
As promised, James provides an update following Alex’s qualifying disqualification. pic.twitter.com/9qBJoFGGNW
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) August 25, 2024
Williams is now focused on understanding how their measurements could have been incorrect and are working on a swift resolution to prevent future issues.
"What we now need to do is understand how we could have been wrong in our measurements and what we need to change in terms of process with immediate effect," Vowles added.
"There’s only one area of the car that we were not compliant with, and it’s an easy fix, but irrespective of the rule, it’s the rule and it’s black and white in that regard."
Vowles stressed the importance of adhering to regulations and taking responsibility for the mistake.
"We cannot spend hours of work developing an update kit, we cannot ask our drivers to put everything on the line in order to secure points-scoring positions to then throw it away with not being completely there on every single boundary of the regulation,” he said.
“And there’s no one really accountable for that, but ourselves, that’s on our shoulders. No one else outside of that has any responsibility. We need to address and get on top of that with immediate effect."
The disqualification was particularly frustrating for Williams, as the updated FW46 had showed promising performance throughout the weekend.
"The performance of the car was positive," Vowles stated. "We’re in a situation where that update is now producing good results. And in a very tight midfield, we’re able to put the car back into that qualifying three position, back into a point-scoring position for the race today.
“That’s also mirrored by a long run on Friday that again was positive. It had pulled clear of the midfield, and we were in a situation, in fact, at times where a long run was overlaying with Ferrari.
“It is a very different situation to what we’ve been [experiencing compared] to the beginning of the season."
Despite the setback, Vowles remains optimistic about Williams' prospects for the remainder of the season.
"We still have beyond here, this race weekend, where I feel we have a strong enough car to be able to fight through the field," he continued.
"I’m excited by the prospects of today because the car remains quick, and we have opportunity in the race. And beyond here, we have nine more races where we have to deliver time and time again with perfection in order to score points and fight our way up the championship.
“This isn’t the standard I want us to hold ourselves to this weekend, but let’s now make it a process change to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
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