Alex Albon ruled out of F1 Sao Paulo GP after qualifying shunt

Alex Albon won't take part in the F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix after his heavy shunt in qualifying.

Williams officially confirmed the news 60 minutes before lights out at Interlagos.

They announced: "In Qualifying earlier this morning, ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix, Williams Racing sustained significant accident damage to both cars following incidents in the inclement weather conditions.Unfortunately, after assessing the extensive damage sustained to Alex Albon’s car, the required repairs could not be completed in the short window of time between Qualifying and the Race. 

"The team is therefore forced to withdraw Alex’s car for the remainder of the Grand Prix."

It was a chaotic qualifying session with five drivers causing severe damage to their cars in qualifying.

Franco Colapinto lost control of his Williams at Turn 3 in Q1, knocking him out early in the session.

Fast forward to Q3 and Alex Albon lost control of his F1 car into the first corner, smashing into the barrier.

Normally, teams would have approximately 24 hours to repair their cars ahead of the race.

But due to the unique format this weekend, due to the weather, teams will have less than three hours to complete repairs.

Aston Martin also saw their two drivers crash out.

Lance Stroll lost control of his car at the penultimate corner.

His shunt controversially caused a red flag, which ultimately resulted in Max Verstappen getting knocked out in Q2.

Fernando Alonso also crashed in the final sector in Q3.

The fifth car to shunt in qualifying was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, losing control of his Ferrari in the opening sequence of corners.

Sainz will start from the pit lane.