Singapore GP drama with double disqualification on cards after two cars fail FIA checks

Williams are set to see both their cars disqualified from qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix. The cars driven by Alex Albon and team-mate Carlos Sainz both failed technical checks after the session on Sunday and so the matter has been referred to the stewards.

Cars that fail technical checks after a session are invariably disqualified from the final result. And that is the fate that looms for both Williams drivers after FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer reported that their cars failed tests on the DRS system on their rear wings and referred the matter to the stewards.

Albon and Sainz had qualified 12th and 13th on the road in an underwhelming performance from the Williams pair. But both are now set to start Sunday's race from the very back of the grid as their qualifying times will be scrubbed once disqualification from the session is confirmed.

The rules dictate that the maximum gap allowed when the flap on the rear wing of an F1 car opens is 85millimetres, but the DRS systems on both Williams cars opened too wide when the FIA scrutineers were checking.

Speaking ahead of the weekend, team principal James Vowles had made it clear he was expecting a tough weekend for his team anyway, despite the podium for Sainz last time out in Baku. He said: "Singapore is going to be a tough matter, I think that is just the reality behind it.

"My prediction, and this could be entirely wrong, is we are going to struggle in Singapore. I think when we go to the max wing, we know that is not what this car is optimised for at all.

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"For clarity, the wing that we are running is a year-old wing. We did not invest in that downforce level, so that is why I am, unfortunately, fairly confident [that] it is not going to be last [place], but it would not be in the position we are here."

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