Canadian Grand Prix qualifying DELAYED after F1 star involved in freak accident

Canadian Grand Prix

Canadian Grand Prix qualifying DELAYED after F1 star involved in freak accident

A F1 star was involved in a strange incident

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 14 June 2025 22:28 Updated: 23:32

Alex Albon caused a red flag during qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix after the engine cover blew off the side of his Williams F1 car in a freak incident.

The session was abruptly paused when Albon's engine cover exploded off his car down the backstraight, and the 29-year-old rushed straight to his garage to fix the issue.

As a result of the red flag, the session was delayed so that the marshals could retrieve the debris from the broken engine cover safely and ensure the circuit was clear for the remainder of qualifying.

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Albon was also noted by the stewards for failing to find the escape road, and pull over with his damaged car.

The Williams mechanics had a huge job ahead of them to replace the engine cover in time so that Albon could continue to participate in qualifying.

Williams and Albon under pressure at Canadian Grand Prix

Williams demonstrated impressive speed in Canada, with both drivers featuring in the top three during practice on Friday and hoped to covert this pace in qualifying.

Luckily, the Williams mechanics managed to fix Albon's car in time for one more lap in Q1 and a chance of making it into Q2.

Albon managed to set a time inside the top 10 and progress through to Q2, but his team-mate Carlos Sainz was seemingly impeded by Isack Hadjar on his final flying lap and was knocked out in Q1.

The team have not disclosed what prompted the bodywork to fly off, but the FIA will certainly be looking into the incident to make sure it does not happen again.

McLaren Canadian Grand Prix Alex Albon