Williams Driver Alex Albon Demoted to P19 for Miami Sprint
Williams driver Alex Albon will start Saturday’s Miami Sprint from P19 after stewards deleted his qualifying lap times for exceeding track limits.
Although Albon originally progressed to SQ2 and claimed 14th place on Friday, a post-session review confirmed he breached track limits at Turn 6 during his final SQ1 run. The penalty stripped him of his fastest lap and effectively erased his entire qualifying effort.
Albon’s original 1m 30.988s lap had narrowly knocked Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson out of the session by less than a tenth of a second. The disappointed New Zealander noticeably remained in his cockpit as SQ2 began, seemingly anticipating a potential reprieve before the penalty was officially confirmed.
The official stewards’ document clarified that the delayed penalty occurred because the Turn 6 infringement was not reported until SQ2 was already underway. Because Albon’s initial time was fast enough to advance, he was back on the circuit before officials were alerted to the breach.
To resolve the unusual timeline, stewards invoked the International Sporting Code to erase the offending SQ1 lap. Consequently, because Alex Albon should never have progressed to the second segment, all of his lap times from SQ2 were also deleted from the official timesheets.
