Alex Albon has become the first to retire at the grueling Singapore GP. The Williams driver experienced overheating issues in his car, which was later revealed to be his power unit overheating. With the temperatures high at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz reported there was something else that may have forced Albon to pull his FW46 into the pits.
Kravitz reported, “Confirmed by the team as a power-unit overheating problem. Whether he picked up a tear-off or bag in his radiator after the pit stop, that may be the case.”
We have had to retire Alex’s car from the Singapore GP due to a suspected PU / cooling issue.
This will be investigated further post race.
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) September 22, 2024
Albon was in trouble right from the start of the Grand Prix, which saw his teammate Franco Colapinto overtake him. Colapinto’s overtake was a big surprise for the Thai-British driver as he expressed his disappointment on team radio, questioning how the 21-year-old just “divebombed” him.
This move helped Colapinto get into the top 10 while Albon fell back down the order. The #23 driver pitted early as well after 11 laps to get off his medium tires for hard tires. However, he could not put them to good use with the car starting to overheat.
With the Singapore GP being a punishing race for the drivers due to the heat and humidity, Albon won’t have to go through that tiredness anymore. However, he would be sad to not score points in a Williams car that has started to improve on performance since their Dutch GP upgrade.
