Williams F1’s Cooling Fan Fiasco: Albon’s Qualifying Quirk at Azerbaijan GP Explained

Larkam reports from Baku on Williams' peculiar oversight of not detaching the airbox fan from Alex Albon’s Formula 1 vehicle during the qualifying session.

Alex Albon explained that the haste to catch a slipstream during the qualifying round at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix led to the oversight of not detaching an airbox fan from his Williams Formula 1 vehicle.

In an odd mistake at the start of Q3, Albon had to leave the track shortly after leaving the pits to take off a cooling airbox that was inadvertently left attached to his vehicle.

Albon was observed removing the fan from his car and discarding it to the track's edge. He secured the 10th spot for the Sunday race in Baku, yet he is now in a tense situation, awaiting to find out if he will retain his position after being called to meet with the race officials.

"Securing the tow was quite the hurried affair, somewhat reminiscent of Monza," Albon described. He believes that this circuit benefits more from the tow than Monza does, due to its low-speed exit, which minimizes losses in the turbulent wake.

We aimed to narrow the margins, eager to swiftly exit the garage and start, but unfortunately, we forgot a fan attached to the car. It was annoying. Still, if it had to happen, it's preferable during Q3 rather than in the initial stages of Q1 and Q2.

"Clearly, there was a minor error, and we'll examine and reassess it. However, it's part of the process, and I'm not blaming the team. I believe such incidents can occur occasionally, and our focus is on preventing a recurrence."

Discussing the situation, Williams team principal James Vowles shared with SiriusXM: “The primary cause was due to the significantly shortened timeframe for the turnaround. It was condensed into roughly 40 seconds, which is less than the usual duration.

In the pit lane, there was a noticeable scramble for spots. Alex stood out for his courteous behavior, graciously slowing down to allow others to overtake him.

"Immediately after his action, we found ourselves at a disadvantage in terms of timing. This led to a tense environment, although usually, the team handles such pressure consistently every week."

"During this specific event, for reasons I must explain, we opted for a permanent fan installation instead of a temporary one, as that's the genuine answer to the issue. Setting up something permanent doesn't happen in 40 seconds, but it's feasible if you have five minutes."

Because of this, one of the necessary inspections was overlooked, leading to the vehicle departing without it. Despite that, there was still an opportunity to identify the mistake. This means we are dealing with two significant oversights that we need to address.

"Why did we opt for a permanent setup instead of considering a temporary solution, and could this have been identified sooner? Because even in that scenario, he would have managed to complete a lap."

"The downside is evident. However, what I truly appreciate about our current situation is the absence of finger-pointing. Our successes and failures are shared. It's really that straightforward. We'll regroup, learn from our mistakes to avoid them in the future, and proceed."

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