Alex Albon questions FIA after “sketchy” wet Las Vegas F1 qualifying

Both Alex Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto struggled in the poor conditions

Both Alex Albon and Gabriel Bortoleto described their qualifying sessions for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix as one of the most challenging wet sessions they've faced. This came as grip and visibility became a premium as rain hit the famous Strip circuit.

Both drivers were knocked out of qualifying in Q1 as the street circuit soaked up the Nevada rain. Williams' Albon will start 16th for tomorrow's race while Sauber's rookie driver Bortoleto sits two places behind him.

“Frustrating in many ways," Albon told the media after a difficult session. "I think we just need to review where we were on track, because we were unfortunately in the slow group, where I think it was Lewis [Hamilton], myself, Liam [Lawson].

"I think at that time we were all just slow on track and I kept catching them all and getting into dirty air. I think in the end I had one clean lap, so I kind of had to make it count.

"It was my only clean lap, so I didn't really have any rhythm at all. It was okay. Made a mistake and that was it.”

Asked about running on the full wet tyres in the poor conditions, the Thai-British driver admitted his surprise that the FIA didn't red-flag the session.

"I'm surprised we were driving, to be honest, in many ways. Like, the aquaplaning into Turn 14 was incredible. And it was a little bit of a lottery if you got it or not. But yeah, it was sketchy.”

The layout of the Sin City circuit, however, performs better than some in these conditions, the driver reported.

"The reason why the wet works is because there's not any long corners, high-speed corners to damage it. So it works well.

"I think you saw it work well in Canada a few years ago as well, like these tracks where it's just straight line braking and accelerating. It's good. But it was still, at least… I think everyone runs different ride heights, so you never know for sure, but it was still on the limit for sure. Yeah, it was sketchy.”

He added: “I think Turkey 2020 still tops it, but it was severe.”

Should race control have intervened, and is there anything they can do about these tricky conditions?

“I think it's going to be the way it is and yeah, maybe call into question if we should have been driving. I think it could have been red-flagged and we could have gone again and stopped maybe some of the randomness of the aquaplaning.

"I think they could see that cars were aquaplaning and maybe could have done something about it a bit earlier, but at the same time I think it was okay.”

Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Bortoleto, after his first qualifying session in the third US race of the season, reported a drop in confidence.

“I felt very low grip and I feel like I couldn't extract a lot of grip I had in the last two laps. I think that's where I missed out mainly, was these last two laps.

"I lost a bit of confidence with the car. I felt like at the beginning of the session I was quite happy, braking late and feeling comfortable. And at the end I just felt like I had no confidence anymore.”

From the cockpit, the conditions felt as bad as they looked to the drivers.

“It was zero grip, yeah. It was very bad, definitely. Yeah, definitely the worst I've been in a Formula 1 car.”

Despite the disappointing results, the Brazilian driver ended his Friday with a balanced outlook on his qualifying performance.

“I mean, it's raining, you know. When the rain is like this... it's also cool to be in these circumstances. We already have a lot of downforce in normal conditions. Sometimes you will be running in low conditions, and that's what makes Formula 1 fun as well, so that's it.”

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording.