Imola GP 2024: A complete car shutdown forces Alex Albon to leave FP1 early with Red Flag, Hamilton also loses control

After two consecutive rounds of sprint races Formula 1 is back to their traditional weekend. The Caravan has now reached to Italy for the first-ever European race of the season with Imola set to host the F1 after a year of hiatus. 

In the first Free Practice session on Friday, Williams Racing driver Alex Albon faced a complete shutdown of the car. After recording his time and being 15th fastest on the track Albon lost his control over the car and went into the grass. The car seemed to lose the electric power supply which forced Albon to leave the car and cut short his day. 

Here is the video: 

💥 Secuencia del fallo mecánico del Williams de Alex Albon.#F1 #ImolaGP 🇮🇹

pic.twitter.com/r33K1WUvsd

— Fórmula Directa (@FormulaDirecta) May 17, 2024

Bounce and uncertainties trouble drivers at Imola!

This means Albon will have just one practice session this weekend too before the qualifying race on Saturday. The bumpy conditions at Imola are likely to be the reason behind the incident with Albon. It troubled Yuki Tsunoda too who was heard asking his race engineer to stop pressing the radio when he was trying to push hard.

Gasly also complained about the bumpy nature of the track. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton also ran off the track as he spin-off at one of the most bumpy turns. However, without much drama, he came back on track and continued his race. 

Currently, after a great update in their car Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton are dominating the track. Russell is at the top while Hamilton is in third position just behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Max Verstappen is currently fourth fastest in the grid.