Williams appeared to be in a strong position for the Singapore GP after an excellent Friday, where both drivers performed well in each free practice session.

Qualifying on Saturday wrapped up earlier than the British team anticipated, with Alex Albon starting in P11 and Franco Colapinto just behind in P12, giving hope for a strong points finish on race day.

However, the race didn’t go as planned. Franco Colapinto narrowly missed out on the points, while Alex Albon was forced to retire his FW46 on lap 17.

Williams Team Principal, James Vowles, has now spoken about the probable reason behind Albon’s early Singapore GP retirement. 

“The actual reason is not fully known yet,” said Vowles quoted by Motorsport Week.

“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 the question.

“What we will know though is once we have that, that there are effective 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.”

Despite Albon's DNF, Vowles remains confident that Williams is heading in the right direction as the team has scored points in the three races before the Singapore Grand Prix. 

“We obviously had a DNF, and that DNF was costly as we were fighting with [Albon] 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,” he added.

Currently, the Grove-based F1 team sits eighth in the Constructor’s Championship with 16 points, trailing seventh-placed Haas by 15 points. The American team capitalized on Williams' misfortune in Singapore, with Nico Hulkenberg finishing ninth at the chequered flag.