A promising qualifying effort for Williams quickly turned into a nightmare for the team at the 2024 Azerbaijan GP. Despite getting both their cars into Q3, Alex Albon was unable to put in a second lap during the final part of qualifying after his team released him from the pit lane with an airbox cooler still attached to his FW46.
The British-Thai driver had momentarily parked his car right outside the pit exit and managed to remove the cooler and proceed with his outlap. However, he did not cross the chequered flag in time to start his flying lap. After the session, the FIA fined the team $5,500 for an unsafe release.
Another angle of that incident has now been doing the rounds of X (formerly Twitter). It captures the harrowing moment as the team signals Albon to leave the garage and his mechanic is frantically trying to get the cooler off his car. Unable to complete the job, the mechanic was just inches away from being trapped by the #23 driver’s right-rear wheel.
A Williams mechanic was extremely fortunate to avoid being hit by @alex_albon‘s car when it was released from their garage with an airbox cooler still in place during qualifying.#F1 #AzerbaijanGP #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/eRQcZgpTKk
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) September 14, 2024
Albon was on course for another solid qualifying effort for the Grove-based team in 2024. The 28-year-old had been unbeaten in qualifying for 38 consecutive race weekends since 2023.
However, this unfortunate moment for Williams meant that 21-year-old Franco Colapinto put his FW46 ahead of Albon for the Grand Prix. The Argentinian will start the race from ninth on the grid.
As for Albon, he is lucky that the FIA did not punish him for the incident. This means that he will not lose his fifth-row start alongside his teammate.
Williams team principal James Vowles came onto Albon’s radio after the session to apologize to the #23 driver and assured him that they will investigate the matter. He also asked his driver to focus on the Grand Prix as the team has a pretty good shot at a double-point finish at the Baku Street Circuit come race day.
