- Albon loses his sprint qualifying result after FIA admits monitoring failure.
- Liam Lawson waited in his car for a ruling that arrived too late.
- Williams’ most promising qualifying session of 2026 ends in stewards’ document.
Alex Albon will start Saturday’s Miami sprint race from 19th on the grid after the FIA deleted his sprint qualifying times.
The governing body acknowledged it missed a track limits violation at Turn 6 during the first segment of sprint qualifying on Friday.
The Williams driver had set a lap of 1m 30.988s in SQ1, which placed him 16th and moved him into SQ2. That lap also eliminated Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson by less than a tenth of a second.
Albon then improved to 14th in SQ2, ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, before the investigation changed everything.
The FIA confirmed it did not detect the Turn 6 infringement in real time. By the time the violation was reported to the stewards, SQ2 had already started, and Albon was already out on circuit.
The stewards’ document stated that Albon’s car “clearly exceeded track limits in Turn 6” but that the breach “was not reported to the Stewards until SQ2 had commenced.”
Because the deleted SQ1 lap was the one that got Albon into SQ2, the stewards also wiped all of his SQ2 times under Article 11.7.1.a of the International Sporting Code, dropping him to P19.
Lawson left waiting, then frustrated
Racing Bulls responded quickly once the breach was identified. The team kept Lawson in his car at the end of SQ1. They waited for a possible reprieve as the clock ran into SQ2.
The decision did not arrive in time, and Lawson’s session ended there. He was later upgraded to 16th once the investigation concluded.
Lawson did not hide his confusion after the session.
“Alex did track limits, but I think they realised too late, and because he’d already gone out on track, I honestly can’t understand how that’s possible,” the New Zealander said. “But from our understanding, he’s literally done track limits and then gone through to Q2.”
Lawson also noted that his own session had been difficult from the start. He said he was poorly positioned on the garage exit, which gave him a compromised out-lap.
A flat spot at Turn 1 then damaged his tyre, forcing him to complete a second lap with heavy vibrations throughout.
A difficult end to an encouraging day for Albon
The penalty landed hard for Albon, who had spoken positively about the team’s direction earlier in the day. He pointed to Williams’ upgrade package as a genuine step forward and said the signs from the car were encouraging.
“I think that’s progress from the team,” Albon said.
“Upgrades are working. I think exploring different philosophies today. Obviously, not much time to test things, being a sprint weekend, but still trying them anyway.”
It was also the first time this season that Williams had got both cars through the first part of qualifying in either format, making the subsequent demotion more painful.
The team had arrived in Miami carrying one of the more substantial upgrade packages in the midfield, partly to address the FW48’s persistent weight problem.
Before the weekend, Albon had been candid about the scale of the challenge. Speaking on The Fast And The Curious podcast, he said:
“There’s so much baggage on the car. I don’t want to say it will be easy, but there’s a lot of potential for us to go forward.”
He also kept expectations measured.
“We have an upgrade package in Miami,” he said. “It will be better, but it won’t be the best thing since sliced bread.”
Questions the FIA now has to answer
The stewards’ own document described Albon’s Turn 6 infringement as “clear.” That makes it harder to explain why it was not caught before SQ2 began.
Sprint qualifying runs with a very small gap between segments. There is no window in which teams or officials can easily pause proceedings.
That condensed format appears to have exposed a gap in how the FIA detects and escalates track limits violations before the next segment gets underway.
Albon was not at fault for the delay. He drove the lap, was given the result, and moved on as any driver would. The penalty punished him for a procedural failure that belonged elsewhere.
Williams and Albon now face Saturday’s sprint from P19. The broader picture, an upgraded car showing early signs of improvement, still offers something to build on for the rest of the Miami weekend.
