After Alex Albon’s FP1 shunt, Williams decided to run only one car during the 2024 Australian GP. A decision was made earlier yesterday that Logan Sargeant would be giving up his chassis for the British-Thai driver for the remainder of the weekend. The team had admitted that they were unable to repair Albon’s car at the track, and without a spare chassis, they would only run one car for the event. Now, it seems as though the team is running the risk of a repeat at the next race weekend at Suzuka according to reports.
Williams was unable to field two cars this weekend because they did not carry a spare third chassis to the Albert Park street circuit. F1 journalist working with Auto Motor und Sport, Tobi Gruner has now reported on X (formerly Twitter), “Williams decided not to rush building a third chassis but rather to repair the damaged Albon chassis for Suzuka. That means there will be only two chassis available for the Japanese GP.”
This also has meant that the upgrade schedule for the FW46 has now been disrupted.
The Suzuka street circuit is know to be one of the most technical and demanding circuits on the F1 calendar. With very short run-off areas, a fast yet twisty track layout, the circuit is known for being an incident-prone track. Hence, by deciding not to carry a spare chassis to the 2024 Japanese GP, Williams could end up in the same situation as they have this weekend.
Is Williams gambling with fate before the 2024 Japanese GP?
The Japanese Grand Prix has almost always served up a racing spectacle for the fans. Part of this is because a driver is always on the edge of adhesion and traction while being ever so close to a barrier at every corner.
With the Senna esses in the first sector, the high-speed Degner curves and the iconic 130R – even a small mistake could end up with a driver in the wall travelling at speeds over 100 mph.
Hence, Williams’ strategy with their chassis allocation seems like a big gamble given what they have endured already this weekend.
What makes the Suzuka circuit even more treacherous is the fact that historically, the race has always been a hotbed of incessant rains. For instance, the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix had to be delayed to allow conditions to become even remotely good enough for racing. Back in 2019, Qualifying had to be pushed to Sunday, just before the main Grand Prix, owing to a typhoon hitting the area that Saturday.
