Williams Investigates Discrepancy in Formula 1 Floor Scans Following Albon’s Disqualification
Williams is seeking answers as to why its own pre-event scans of its updated Formula 1 car suggested its revised floor complied with the regulations, despite being deemed too wide by the FIA at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Albon’s Disqualification
Alex Albon was disqualified from his eighth spot on the grid after an area of his floor – believed to be in front of the rear tyres – was deemed to be too wide to comply with the volume rules. This surprise verdict came after Williams had checked the measurements of its upgraded car several times before the event and believed it was fully in line with the limits.
Williams’ Perspective
“We use scanning techniques now rather than physical measuring techniques, because it’s not just one point that you have to be aware of – its heights and widths all across some quite complex shapes,” Vowles said. “Before we came here, we have scanned the floor and the car multiple times. It happened back at the factory in isolation with the floor. It happened back at the factory on the car. It happened here on Thursday as well.”
Vowles emphasized that the team had demonstrated their results to the FIA, which indicated that their floor was within legal compliance. However, the team accepts the FIA’s adjudication and is now focused on understanding the disparity and adapting the floor to be fully legal.
Team’s Response and Responsibility
“With immediate effect, there’s only one area of the car that we were not compliant with, and it’s an easy fix,” Vowles added. “But irrespective, the rule is the rule, and it’s black and white.”
The Williams team principal took full responsibility for the mistake, but remains confident about the potential of the car. “We cannot spend hours of work developing an update kit, and we cannot ask our drivers to put everything on the line in order to secure points-scoring positions, to then throw it away with not being completely there on every single boundary of the regulation,” he said.
Williams is determined to learn from this experience and ensure it doesn’t happen again, with Vowles noting, “This isn’t the standard I want us to hold ourselves to this weekend, but let’s now make a process change to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
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