Vowles self-critical after Albon's disqualification: 'We threw it away'
F1 News
It was an extremely tough Saturday for Williams at Zandvoort. Logan Sargeant's horror smash destroyed his FW46 in FP3, meaning the American was unable to participate in the afternoon qualifying session. A silver lining for Williams appeared in Alex Albon's impressive P8 qualification, but their celebrations were short-lived. Williams' star Thai driver was disqualified from qualifying after a technical infringement. Team boss James Vowles has spoken out after the difficult day, assuring fans that their car was thoroughly checked for its legality before the weekend.
Williams posted a transparent video of Vowles discussing the team's Saturday woes on social media. "As many of you are aware we were disqualified yesterday from qualifying, the performance of the car was positive. The facts are we were disqualified for a flaw that was too wide, and my job here today is to go through what has happened and what we're doing to immediately address the situation we have here this weekend," the Brit began.
Vowles 'accepts' FIA's ruling
Vowles also explained the thorough scanning processes that the team completed in order to make sure that they remained within the regulations. This time around, there was obviously a mistake, Vowles reveals. "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 its heights and widths all across, some quite complex shapes. Before we came here, we scanned the floor and the car multiple times. 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 indicates 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."
Vowles: 'We threw it away'
The Williams team boss was critical of himself and his team after the unfortunate disqualification. It surely has stolen any chance for Williams to score points as both of Vowles's drivers are set to start from the back of the Zandvoort grid. "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," Vowles said passionately.
Vowles assures fans: 'It won't happen again'
He still sees the positive in the performance of his upgrades, however, and hopes the Grove-based team can deliver points in what remains of the season. "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." Vowles concluded.
You never know what could happen in the unpredictable world of Formula 1, but Albon is set for a very difficult Sunday on a circuit where it's very hard to overtake.
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