Yahoo Autos UPDATE: Albon to take over Sargeant’s Williams at Australian GP
UPDATE, 6AM ET: Williams has now confirmed that it will have to withdraw the car crashed by Alex Albon in the opening practice session for the Australian Grand Prix. Albon will take over Logan Sargeant’s car for the remainder of the weekend. More details to follow.
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Williams is down to one entry at the Australian Grand Prix after Alex Albon’s crash in FP1 that damaged his chassis, as the team lacks a spare this weekend.
Albon crashed exiting Turn 6, the car bottoming out after he ran over the outside curb and hitting the wall on the inside of the track, before then sliding across to the opposite wall ensuring damage to three corners. The team soon confirmed that he would not be taking part in the second session as it analyzed the extent of the damage.
Williams then confirmed to RACER that it doesn’t have a spare chassis at this point in the season, meaning if the chassis cannot be repaired overnight then the team will be down to one car for the remainder of the Melbourne weekend.
“There’s not much that can be salvaged,” Albon said after FP2. “So we’re going through it now, looking at where the damage is. It’s going to be tricky, that’s for sure. Obviously very frustrating for that reason.”
Explaining the crash, Albon says he was surprised by the car bottoming out again on landing back on track, after hitting the exit curb hard.
“Just exploring a little bit, went a bit wide, had a bit of an aggressive kind of curb strike and it lifted up the front. I honestly didn’t think anything of it at the time, I thought, ‘OK it’s fine, I’ll just back out and let the car land.’ But when I did land, I bottomed out pretty badly, and when it bottomed out, it just kind of spat me.
“So, frustrating. And obviously just feel bad for everyone back at the factory and here at the track. Did a lot of damage, so let’s see if we can get it repaired.”
Albon scored 27 points compared to a solitary point for teammate Logan Sargeant in 2023, and was running in sixth place in Australia last year when he crashed out of the race at the same corner. The Thai-British driver admits he is unsure if he could take over Sargeant’s car for the rest of the weekend if required.
Williams has yet to score this season, with Haas the only of the bottom five teams with a top ten in the opening two races courtesy of Nico Hulkenberg’s 10th place in Jeddah.
