Alex Albon questions FIA's "random" nature of post-race inspection that led to McLaren’s double DNF in the F1 Las Vegas GP

Alex Albon believes the FIA’s system of randomly selecting cars for post-race inspections, a process that led to McLaren’s double disqualification, only adds unnecessary complexity. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, the Williams driver said he is not a fan of the random checks and feels every car should be inspected instead.

Both McLarens were thrown out of the Las Vegas GP results after their planks were found to be below the minimum 9 mm thickness. The low-ride-height demands of the Las Vegas circuit contributed to the excessive wear. A similar situation in China saw both Ferraris, Lewis Hamilton, and Charles Leclerc disqualified despite being on course for a strong points haul.

Alex Albon argued that selective checks create inconsistencies and fuel debate, especially when the consequences have major championship implications. While he acknowledges why the FIA monitors plank thickness, to prevent teams from exploiting performance gains through ride-height tricks, he felt that inspecting all cars would create far more transparency and fairness across the grid.

Asked by Sportskeeda if the issue had gained focus and become the centre of debate due to its impact on the championship, Alex Albon replied:

“Yeah, I mean, we could run these things to the deck if we wanted to and have no legality issues. But then we're all finding illegal performance kind of thing. So I think the main thing for me is, I don't like that it's random. I'd almost rather have 20 cars get checked every weekend and then you'd have it kind of, in terms of fair game. But it's that kind of random selected version of it, which is a bit tricky. But yeah, I mean, rules are rules, it's just how, it's like every time.”

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Alex Albon disagrees with Andrea Stella on lesser penalties for plank ware infringements

Alex Albon disagreed with Andrea Stella, who argued that penalties for plank-wear infringements should be reduced. The Williams driver acknowledged that track characteristics and racing conditions can sometimes contribute to excessive plank wear, making certain situations unfortunate.

He explained that even a millimetre below the required minimum thickness can produce a significant performance gain. Therefore, he disagreed with the McLaren team principal’s call to ease off the punishment for such infringements. In 2022 and 2023, several teams tried exploiting the loopholes in the regulations with plank skid-block tricks, and rules had to be enforced to police them.

Asked if he agreed with Stella on the issue of lowering the penalties for plank wear infringements, Alex Albon said:

“I don't agree with it okay we all have to factor in limits and there's a lot of lap time in these cars being a mill [milimeter] lower than wherever. But of course everyone makes mistakes and I get that bit but you know these cars are incredible now, we are setting ride heights down to what wind you get for the next day in the race. If you get a wind into a main straight it completely transforms your ride heights for the weekend in terms of obviously a few more points up with a headwind puts the car a lot lower. And yeah you get porpoising and then you need to make adjustments to the porpoising as well and estimates.”

“I think it is really tough the regulation set so especially on sprint weekends or weekends where we have not much running like Vegas. You have to take the safe approach and sometimes you finish on Sunday as a team kind of kicking yourself because you have hardly any plank wear and you feel like you could have optimised the weekend more. But that's just the way that these rulesets are this year,” Alex Albon added.

The current regulations are built around ground-effect cars to prevent teams from exploiting performance-related loopholes. Post-race inspections, however, are conducted on a random selection of cars.

In China, Charles Leclerc was disqualified for his car being 1 kg under the minimum weight requirement, while Lewis Hamilton lost his result after his plank was found to be below the mandatory 9 mm thickness. Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg also faced disqualification in Bahrain for a similar plank-wear infringement. The double disqualification for McLaren in Las Vegas had a major impact on the championship, further solidifying Max Verstappen's bid as a title challenger.