When qualifying seemed to have started normally, Alexander Albon was the unwelcome protagonist after an explosion at the rear of his Williams caught him by surprise, causing the first red flag of qualifying.
At first, the track cameras focused on the Canadian driver’s car due to the fire that emerged from his right rear brake system, a problem that is not new for the Grove team, since in the preseason tests they suffered this several times same fault.
As Albon was making his way back to the garage at a controlled speed, an incredible explosion caused Race Direction to issue a red flag, while the Williams driver didn’t stop driving and returned to pit lane under his own power, leaving loose pieces on the tarmac as he made his way down the short path to the pit lane.
The images of the fire and the explosion were very shocking and set off the alarms, but luckily, nothing serious happened and Alex Albon was able to park his car in the Williams garage, leaving the incident unharmed, but knowing that he would not be able to return to the asphalt .
In this way, the Thai driver will have to settle for starting from the last position in the sprint race of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, a great opportunity that he would not normally have to overtake and gain some positions for the grid on Sunday, when the race that really distributes the points will be played.
Albon and Williams added their first point of the 2022 F1 season last weekend at the Australian Grand Prix, the Thai went out on track with hard tires and except for the last lap, he completed the rest with that same rubber, a strategy risky but ultimately effective.
