REPORT: Qualifying Complete for 2024

Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto ended our 2024 Qualifying sessions without a Q2 run as our two drivers ended Q1 in P16 and P19, respectively.

An incredibly tight gap separated all 20 drivers, with Franco's 19th-place elimination only six-tenths from the fastest lap of the 18-minute session.

With both Alex and Franco carrying five-place grid penalties, the two FW46 cars always had a tough Saturday, though Ferrari's Charles Leclerc's 10-place demotion from P14 means Williams Racing will avoid a P20 start.

A track limit violation for Franco on his first run meant that he had it all to do on his second lap, and he reached the top 15 when he completed his final effort.

Our duo's second runs came during a lull on track when our rivals were in the pit lane to maximise the clean air.

Fernando Alonso pipped Albono by only 0.027s, and Franco's effort was just 0.091 away from his teammate, once again demonstrating how close those in the class of 2024 are.

"We didn’t quite optimise the lap in Qualifying; there was more on the table, so that’s a bit frustrating," Alex shared.

"It’s such fine margins out there with one tenth having the potential to move us up four or five positions.

"We obviously focused on the race car more than the Qualifying car due to the grid penalty, so we’ll see if that pays off tomorrow.

"As a team, we’ve shown a lot of resilience this year, especially over these last few months and it’s been a huge effort from the factory and the trackside team to get the car in a decent place, but we’ve fallen short on upgrades throughout the year, so we’ve been left behind slightly in that midfield battle.

"We’re putting our focus on the future and will close out the race tomorrow the best we can."

Franco added: "Unfortunately, it didn’t quite come together for us in Qualifying as after the floor repairs, we lost more downforce than we thought.

"Losing a chunk of time in a tight field was very costly today but let’s see how it is tomorrow.

"We’ll try our best to recover in the race despite starting with a grid penalty."

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director, concluded our reaction by saying: "The battle in the midfield has been very tight all year and tonight wasn’t any different.

"0.15s divided P11 to P19 and unfortunately, tonight both cars were eliminated in Q1.

"With the grid penalties we will start at the back of the field but let’s see what we can do tomorrow, as we focused on having a strong race car.

"We will give it our best one more time in the last race of the season."