REPORT: Qualifying complete at Zandvoort

Saturday at Zandvoort was a tricky day for the team, but it ended with something to smile about as Alex Albon secured our best Qualifying result of 2024 so far.

The day had begun in wet conditions once again. After recording his first push lap of FP3, Logan Sargeant drifted onto the grass at the exit of T3, causing him to spin sharply into the Armco and suffer a heavy hit.

His FW46 soon caught alight and thankfully Sarge was OK and able to quickly jump to safety, but the damage to his car was considerable.

The incident caused a delay that lasted most of FP3, but this allowed us to quickly start working on the car.

Despite a mammoth amount of work from both sides of the garage, we couldn't get Logan on track for Qualifying, leaving us with one car left in the fight for a dry session.

Alex was safely through Q1, despite - in his own words - not putting together a great lap on his final push.

He’d deliver us through to the Q3 shootout with a 1:10.768 that earned praise from James Vowles over the radio.

“More than safe, Alex. [That was a] really good lap. We've got good potential,” our Team Principal shared over the radio.

We sent Alex out for just one push at the end of Q3, and his 1:10.653 placed him P8 on the grid for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix, representing our best Qualifying result of the season so far.

"I’m really happy with P8 and that our upgrades have helped us secure this position," Alex shared.

"It’s been very windy and gusty out there and it seems like if you were 10 seconds behind another car, they could have a completely different wind to you and it was halves of seconds that were in the wind, so it felt a little like the lottery.

"We’ve made a big step with the weight as well as the aero upgrade and it’s not the complete package either with more to come soon, so it’s all looking positive.

"The car felt strong and got better on each lap, so it’s great to get this result in these conditions today and to see the upgrades working well.

"We can all be happy, so a big thank you to the team for working hard to have the updates ready. We’ll be in the mix tomorrow, I’m feeling confident."

Speaking about his FP3 incident, Logan commented: "It was a small mistake with a big consequence, just touching the grass and that was it.

"Obviously, a big hit but I’m ok. There’s a lot to fix on the car so I feel for everyone working on it tonight to get it ready for tomorrow.

"All we can do is regroup, go again and try and have a good race."

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director, summarised our Saturday by sharing: "A day of mixed emotions.

"After Logan crashed in FP3 the team gave it their best to get the car ready for Qualifying, but unfortunately there was simply too much to do, so Logan will have to start from P20.

"On the other hand, Alex had a great afternoon with the car performing well and solid runs in Q1 and Q2 that got him into Q3.

"As we only had one set of new tyres left, we opted for one run at the end and qualified in P8.

"He is in a great position tomorrow to score points, but it will be a hard fight as it is so tight in the midfield.

"The weather should be stable and dry tomorrow which will hopefully make it a great race for the fans."