Williams Formula 1 boss James Vowles says that the team is yet to determine the cause of the PU cooling issue that led to a rare mechanical retirement for Alex Albon in the Singapore GP.
Albon was fighting back from a bad first lap when he was called into the pits to retire after completing just 15 laps.
That cost him a shot at scoring a priceless point or two as the team continues to try to close the gap to the Haas and RB teams up ahead in the constructors’ championship.
His team mate Franco Colapinto also missed the points for Williams in Singapore having finished 11th.
“We obviously had a DNF, and that DNF was costly as we were fighting with him back through the field, and we lost more opportunity,” said Vowles.
“I’m encouraged by the fact that we have a competitive car. We have a track that’s been really poor for us historically, and it bodes well for the remaining six races, and I can’t wait to see where we are.
“The championship is still wide open. There’s plenty of opportunity in front of us.”
Vowles admitted that Williams still doesn’t know the precise reason for the overheating issue.
“Alex’s car was running hot,” he said. “We could see that from the beginning of the race, but then it started stepping up quite considerably. The actual reason, even today as I talk to you, is not fully known yet.
“What I can tell you is there’s a carbon duct that links to one of the radiators, and that was cracked. Whether that was enough to be able to cause this issue, is what we’re still going through.
“What we will know, though, is, once we have that, there are effectively measures in place to make sure we both understand the fault and have systems in place to rectify not just that, but others that could occur as a result of the learning that we’ve had.”
Prior to his retirement Albon has been frustrated by being edged wide at the start by team mate Franco Colapinto, although he was more relaxed about the incident after the race.
“No one could turn into the corner, so kind of everyone concertinaed, and basically I had to go straight into Turn 1,” he said.
“And obviously I was on the outside, so I paid the price. I mean, nothing really, so nothing really to criticise. I think in the end, just unfortunate that I was the one on the on the other side of the corner.
“So a bit frustrating. I think the whole weekend’s been a bit frustrating. We had a car that should have been top 10, and we haven’t got that.”
