Alex reaches Q2 in Qualifying ahead of Dutch GP

Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi took P15 and P20 in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix. It was a fourth Q2 appearance in the last five qualifying sessions for Alex, but, unfortunately, overheating issues hit Nicky’s car.

Blue skies greeted the F1 paddock in the Netherlands for Saturday, and hopes of a decent qualifying began from FP3, where our No23 reached P13 in the final practice session.

The pace of the FW44 was again apparent at the rollercoaster Zandvoort circuit, with the 287km/h speed trap in Sector 2 seeing us match Red Bull’s qualifying speed and helping push Alex into Q2.

Alex’s Q2 running was interrupted by a red flag, yet he still set two times in the gaps between other runners good enough for P10, before late laps from our rivals saw him exit Q2 with a P15 starting position for tomorrow’s race.

Unfortunately for Nicky, he couldn’t set a representative time, and the Canadian had to abandon his final push lap, meaning he will start Sunday’s race in P20.

Albono was overall happy with today’s work, after progressing into Q2, saying: “Today was okay if you think about the circuit and where we are in our limitations to get into Q2, so I think it's a really good job.

“I'm pleased about Q1 as we didn't expect to make it into Q3, so it's been a massive effort by everyone.”

Our No23 expanded on his Q2 appearance: “I lost a little bit of the rear in Q2 and we're fighting small margins out there.”

“Whilst finishing P15 in Q2 is obviously disappointing, I feel like we made some good changes overnight, so can see if we can make up some places tomorrow.”

It was a difficult Saturday afternoon for Nicky, with gremlins that limited his running: “We had an issue that we are still investigating in qualifying.

“On my first lap I was getting some messages on the dash and losing power and then on my second attempt I had to abort the lap because the issue re-occurred.”

However, the Canadian racer felt that there was some progress before the problem and said: “It's not ideal because we've been struggling all weekend and it seemed like we had made a decent step in the right direction at the start of the first lap.

“We just didn't get in a representative lap. This is motorsport and it happens.”

Our Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson summarised our Zandvoort Saturday, explaining: “We made some good progress overnight and got the car into a better window today.

“It is still difficult round here, especially when the wind picks up, but we got more from the tyres today and were able to get a more consistent balance.

“We expected Q1 to be very tight and so opted to send Alex early to give him a clean lap. This worked well and he was able to produce a very good lap to make Q2.”

Dave also detailed what shortened Nicky’s Saturday running: “Unfortunately, Nicholas struggled with a spike in engine temperature, which we are currently investigating.

“The problem started during his 1st lap in Q1 and we took some time to investigate whilst the car was back in the garage.

“However, it was clear early on in his 2nd run that we had not fully fixed the issue and so he had to abort his lap, which was a huge shame as he was very fast in the opening half of the lap.

Finally, Dave gave his thoughts on the latest Q2 appearance for Albono: “It was a shame that Alex’s 1st run in Q2 was interrupted by a flare on the track, but he was still able to set a decent lap on used tyres after the red flag.

“For his final run, we again looked for a clear lap for Alex, which was successful, but he had a small snap early in the lap, which prevented him from bettering his Q1 time.

“A perfect lap would’ve earned us a few more places on the grid but Q3 was probably just beyond us today.

“We have a good selection of tyre remaining for tomorrow and there is still a long way to go this weekend.”

Before any F1 action got underway, our F3 Academy driver Zak O’Sullivan started the day right with silverware after his P3 finish in the morning’s Formula 3 Sprint Race.

Aside from Zak’s F3 success, Formula 2 was also in action with its own Sprint Race. Logan Sargeant, who will start tomorrow’s Feature Race in P3, took a point for his P8, while Roy Nissany finished in P15.