Williams’ Las Vegas GP was a bonafide disaster this year. Alex Albon retired mid-race and Franco Colapinto finished P14. Not a lot went right for them that weekend, except for one thing, which only Colapinto seemed to notice.
Before his outing ended in a DNF, Albon registered a speed of 229 mph (369 kph) along the straights of the Las Vegas Strip. The Thai-British driver, however, was not aware of it until Colapinto told him about it in a video posted on Williams’ YouTube channel.
In the video, both Albon and Colapinto were asked to name who was more likely to break an F1 record. The Argentine driver was quick to reply, “He f*cking just broke it.”
Curious, Albon asked about it. Colapinto declared that Alex had broken the world record for the highest speed in an F1 car.
“I did?” Albon asked, amazed. The 28-year-old added, still in disbelief, that if either he or Colapinto had broken a record, Williams would have announced it on social media.
How well do Alex and Franco know each other?
They go head to head to be crowned the ultimate teammate, in a game of Mr & Mrs
Watch the full video at the link below
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) December 16, 2024
There was a reason why the team didn’t post about it. As it turns out, Colapinto was mistaken. Albon had recorded the highest-ever speed on the Las Vegas Street Circuit, but not the overall speed record in an F1 car.
Incidentally, it’s Williams that holds the highest speed recorded by an F1 car in a race. Valtteri Bottas, the Grove-based team’s ex-driver, registered 231 mph (372.5 kph) in Mexico in 2016. Surely, it would have been a great flex for Williams had Albon added a couple of miles more in the speedometer.
Nevertheless, given how disappointing the whole weekend was for Williams, they likely weren’t in the mood to celebrate or boast about any records.
Albon claimed Williams had a “terrible, terrible time” in Las Vegas
Before the Las Vegas GP, Williams had endured a nightmare in Sao Paolo, crashing three times that weekend. The team had to send its broken machinery back to Grove for immediate repairs before sending it to the US.
Initially, there were speculations of Williams missing out on the race in Nevada due to logistical issues. However, they repaired the cars well within the three-week window they had and the shipments arrived in time. The British team was hoping to bounce back in Vegas.
“I feel like we’ve had a terrible, terrible time of it as of late. It’s just frustrating,” Albon had said after being forced to retire from the Las Vegas GP due to a power unit issue.
“I was excited about the race. I felt like [we could score] great points hopefully,” after making his way to P10 at one point in the race.
Colapinto didn’t have it easy either. He suffered a massive 50G impact during qualifying, which forced him to start the race from the pit lane. With the damage sustained in qualifying, the Argentine could not finish in the top 10, leaving Williams without points for the second consecutive race.
