Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto ‘disappointed’ after what Sam Bird heard at Singapore Grand Prix

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Sam Bird believes Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were both left ‘disappointed’ after qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix after what he heard from the Williams drivers.

The Grove squad arrived at Marina Bay after a double points-scoring finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last time out. Colapinto scored the first points of his Formula 1 career in only the 21-year-old’s second race. He came home P8 in Baku with Albon just seconds ahead for P7.

It was the first time this year that the team saw both cars get points as Colapinto continued to justify Williams’ decision to drop Logan Sargeant. They both also reached Q3 in Baku but would not repeat their result at the Singapore Grand Prix as Williams bowed out during Q2.

Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were ‘disappointed’ to miss Q3 at the Singapore GP

Albon finished Q2 on the bubble of progressing into the pole position shootout in P11 with Colapinto behind in P12. A mere 0.007 seconds split the Williams teammates, despite their vastly different levels of experience in F1 with Albon celebrating his 100th Grand Prix entry.

A mere 0.024 seconds even split Albon in P11 from moving into Q3 at the expense of Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso in P10. But the London-born Thai felt Williams had left time on the table and he bemoaned, ‘What are we doing?’, over the team’s radio at the end of Q2.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Williams driver Franco Colapinto with praise to stats

Colapinto also lamented his P11 result in qualifying for the Singapore GP and apologised to Williams for failing to reach Q3. Hearing the Argentine and Albon rue their results over the team’s radio convinced McLaren Formula E driver Bird that their disappointment was clear.

“Williams are a bit disappointed with that,” Bird told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Both drivers saying sorry and asking what’s going on.”

James Vowles admits Williams must find answers for their Q2 exit

Albon and Sargeant were not the only ones at Williams saying sorry after Q2, either, as team principal James Vowles was quickly onto the radio to apologise to their drivers. He even told Albon that Williams would look into his session after the Thai star did ‘everything you could’.

Vowles further told Colapinto that he questioned if Williams got their tyres in the optimum operating window during Q2. But it marked the second successive weekend that the Grove crew made a mistake in qualifying to some extent which this time cost both of their drivers.

Williams sent Albon out in Q3 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with a fan in his airbox, which an engineer was still trying to remove. Pulling to one side at the pit exit to remove the fan also meant Albon could not beat the chequered flag to improve his time and finished Q3 in P10.