Both Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo had a point to prove and perhaps wanted to score points in Suzuka. However, courtesy of their crashing into each other on Lap 1, their Japanese GP did not last for even a minute as both cars were into the barriers at the famed Suzuka Esses! This DNF is a big deal in different contexts for both drivers, but more so for Albon as his team, Williams, are in a dire situation with the resultant damage to his car. After the race, the Thai driver reacted and raised concern about the Grove team’s problematic situation with the lack of a spare chassis.
According to Formula 1’s Drivers’ post-race reaction video on YouTube, Albon said, “It was a tough one to take. Obviously, we [Williams] are not in a great position as a team with parts and just general damage for the car so yeah very frustrating and just disappointing”.
Williams have not been traveling to races with a spare chassis this season, a result of the inefficiency of their car production processes. This lack of a spare chassis hurt them immensely in Australia, as they had to only field one car due to a badly damaged chassis owing to Albon’s crash in FP1 there.
This resulted in the 28-year-old taking over Logan Sargeant’s car and the American had to sit out for the rest of the weekend. Since then, crashes have been a lot more frequent from both Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, and it is not helping Williams’s cause.
On board at the start #F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/TJ4NpOoJzO
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 7, 2024
The opening lap of the Japanese GP was the third major crash for Williams in the past two weeks. However, Albon was not entirely at fault for this one.
As he got “good traction” out of Turn 2, the #23 driver was suddenly beside Daniel Ricciardo through the Esses. And the next thing Albon witnessed was a “pinching moment” with the Honey Badger, as the latter moved a bit too much to the right and the Thai driver could not get out of the way “quick enough”.
Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant’s crashes are worsening Williams’s dire situation
While Logan Sargeant had to go under the bus at the Australian GP to give his car to Alex Albon, he also has not been flawless in terms of keeping the car out of the barriers. The American driver started his Japanese GP weekend with a major crash in FP1 on Friday itself.
This made Sargeant miss FP2 due to extensive repairs on his car pending. Thankfully, due to rain, he did not miss much of the running. However, the #2 driver’s troubles did not end there in Suzuka.
Despite pulling out some promising moves during the race, Sargeant again paid a visit to the gravel in the second half of the Grand Prix and caused a lot of dirt to fly back on the track. Fortunately for his race, he was able to reverse and join the track back.
However, from Williams’ perspective, these crashes and incidents have not been ideal given their lack of spare parts and a spare chassis. The team’s mechanics have been working relentlessly since the Australian GP to repair Albon’s chassis and they have not got any respite in Japan too.
Now, that Albon’s car [which was Sargeant’s car originally, that the Thai driver got in Australia] has significant damage, his chassis will head back to the factory to get for repairs. With the Chinese GP just two weeks later, once again Williams have a race against time to get this chassis ready in time. As for a spare chassis, the Grove team won’t be able to have that until the Miami GP.
