Alex Albon ended qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in twelfth place after Williams reverted to an older floor specification. The decision was forced by damage sustained during Gabriel Bortoleto’s heavy sprint crash, which sent debris into Albon’s car. Albon said the performance loss was noticeable and believes it contributed to him missing out on a Q3 appearance by less than a tenth of a second.
The incident occurred at the end of Saturday’s sprint as Albon defended against Bortoleto for tenth place. With Albon struggling for grip on worn soft tyres, Bortoleto attempted a move into Turn 1 but lost control and struck the inside barrier. His car bounced across the track, hitting the opposite wall with significant force. Albon avoided direct contact but his car collected debris that damaged several areas, including the new floor. The team worked under pressure to prepare the car for qualifying but had to install the older specification.
Albon said the sprint had already been difficult due to tyre degradation, but the late incident added more complications. He expressed relief that Bortoleto was unhurt, describing the crash as severe. The team learned after inspection that repairing the damaged floor in time was impossible, leaving no choice but to run the older version for qualifying.
The effects became clear during the session. Albon progressed through Q1 in eleventh place, but in Q2 he was unable to improve on his final run. He finished twelfth, missing Q3 by seventy eight thousandths of a second. The team has yet to quantify the exact loss from the change in specification, but the small time gap suggests that the newer floor could have made a difference. Albon said the balance was still not where it needed to be, which increased tyre wear and made it harder to deliver a clean lap.
He added that both the sprint and qualifying highlighted the current challenge in achieving stability across different tyre compounds. Albon said the midfield is extremely close and the team needs a deeper understanding of its race pace to avoid similar situations. The result adds further pressure to Williams as several competitors made gains in Brazil.
Qualifying ended with Lando Norris taking pole ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc. Red Bull faced a rare double Q1 exit, adding another layer of unpredictability to the weekend.
