REPORT: Mixed Qualifying in Imola

Williams Racing will start the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from P14 and P20 after a shift in track conditions from FP3 to Qualifying made it hard to progress.

Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant had wrapped the final hour of Practice sitting in P7 and P15, largely happy with the window that their machines were in.

However, as wind and track conditions shifted before it was time to race the stopwatch, they found themselves firmly in the fight to get through Q1.

Logan unfortunately had all three of his push laps deleted for track limit infringements, whilst Alex dipped his wheels in the gravel on his first attempt.

He would get two clean attempts to get times on the board, making it through to Q2 for the seventh time this season.

There would be no Q3 appearance for the first time this season, despite Alex improving across the second knockout session - his 1:16.200 was 0.5s shy of a spot in the top 10.

“All weekend, the car has felt great with the balance being where we want it, however, going into Qualifying, the track changed for me massively,” our No23 shared.

“Ahead of FP3, we tried some slight positive differences with the setup, but in Qualifying the wind picked up and the tyres heated up, so I just lost a lot of lap time on those last two corners.

“It’s not ideal but I’m generally happy with my lap as I thought I would’ve been out in Q1 with how much the car changed for me in between sessions.

“The race will be tricky if I’m still struggling in those last corners, so hopefully, the weather will work in our favour tomorrow.”

Logan continued our reaction by saying: “It’s been a tricky weekend so far. The wind has been changing over the course of the two days and there was a track reset before Qualifying as there was quite a bit less grip than FP3, which was catching people out, including myself.

“Not every weekend is going to be easy; this track in particular poses a lot of challenges – it’s an old school track so there’s bumps, it’s tight, and it’s fine margins out there.

“Nonetheless, we’ve stuck with it well and I’ve been improving session after session. I’m focusing on doing my best and we’ll maximise what we can tomorrow.”

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director, completed our Saturday reaction by commenting: “After FP3 both drivers were happy with the balance and the setup of the car, but we knew it was going to be very tight in the midfield to get out of Q1.

“The wind and track conditions changed a bit between FP3 and Qualifying and seemingly not in our favour.

“Alex just managed to get into Q2 and had a good last lap, but not good enough for Q3.

“It will be a difficult race tomorrow but there is still a slight chance for a local shower in the later part of the race, so there are still opportunities ahead.”