Williams in race against time to start Brazil GP after double qualifying crash

The Williams Formula 1 team is facing a race against time to get both cars onto the Brazilian Grand Prix grid after crashes for both Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto in qualifying.

In a wet qualifying session Colapinto slid off into the tyre barriers at Turn 3 in Q1, a corner that also claimed Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz, with the Argentinian qualifying down in 18th.

In Q3 Albon also suffered a heavy smash as he chased a shock pole position, with the Thai-Briton holding second with four minutes on the clock behind eventual polesitter Lando Norris in the McLaren.

But Albon’s rear snapped under braking into Turn 1 with his Williams, which ended up qualifying seventh, spinning into the outside wall and heavily damaging both front and rear.

While both drivers were okay, Albon’s crash caused the latest red flag that delayed the session.

Meanwhile, both Williams cars were still stuck behind the barriers, with the team forced to wait until it can recover them after the end of qualifying.

With the start of the grand prix planned at 12:30 local time, that is set to leave the British team just three hours to turn both cars around for the race.

Franco Colapinto, Williams FW46

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

While Albon was wondering whether his brakes failed, Colapinto said he was worried he would not make the start of the race.

“I don’t quite know what happened,” Colapinto told ESPN. “I had some wheelspin and nothing… unrecoverable. It’s very sad. Sorry to the team. They have a lot of work to do.

“I don’t know if they’re going to make it to the race. It’s a pity. Let’s see if we can do something for later. It was 100% my mistake.

“Let’s see if we can make it to the start, which is what I want most. Now we have to work and try to start the race. It’s a small mistake that shouldn’t have happened.”

The other Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso also shunted in the final sector, while several more drivers spun in Turn 3 and escaped a crash of their own, including McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari man Charles Leclerc.

Additional reporting by Federico Faturos