Emilia-Romagna GP: F1 star causes Imola red flag after BIZARRE failure

F1 Practice

F1 star causes Imola red flag after BIZARRE failure

The practice session was halted 20 minutes in

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 17 May 2024 14:19 Updated: 17:09

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The first practice session at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was halted by a red flag, disrupting afternoon running for the teams.

Alex Albon's Williams suffered a bizarre fault while he was completing a lap, shutting down and sending the Thai-born driver off into the Imola grass, where his car became stranded, prompting the red flag.

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FP1 was less than 20 minutes old when the red flag came out, disrupting drivers who were focusing on gaining data for their teams from a track that Formula 1 has not visited since 2022.

The fault to Albon's car was confirmed by Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz to be due to the Williams driver hitting the 'sausage kerb' too hard, and continues the Grove-based squad's miserable start to the season.

Alex Albon has recently signed a new contract

Albon's bubble bursts

Albon has recently signed a new long-term deal with Williams, which will keep him there until at least the end of the 2026 season.

That will mean that the 28-year-old will get chance to see whether the team can produce a car capable of challenging for podium finishes once new regulations sweep into the sport for the 2026 season.

The news of Albon's contract extension came as somewhat of a surprise, not least because Williams have struggled with a plethora of issues in 2024, and are still yet to score a single point.

Albon had been linked with multiple teams up and down the grid for 2025, including Mercedes, Red Bull and Audi.

The Thai-born driver will be hoping that he can still have a strong weekend, despite a poor start on Friday, and the session got back underway around five minutes later.