Alex Albon – Syndication Server

Albon reflects on how latest crash will set back Williams

Alex Albon says the crash he suffered at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix will hurt Williams due to its lack of spare parts and chassis. Daniel Ricciardo moved across as Albon was trying to pull alongside on the run to Turn 3, with the pair …

Alex Albon says the crash he suffered at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix will hurt Williams due to its lack of spare parts and chassis.

Daniel Ricciardo moved across as Albon was trying to pull alongside on the run to Turn 3, with the pair making contact and both hitting the same tire barrier. The damage to the barrier caused a red flag and while Albon was understanding of the decision not to penalize Ricciardo — who was also fighting with Lance Stroll and had a tire disadvantage — he says the impact on Williams could be painful.

“Softs against mediums starting, so (I) had a grip advantage,” Albon said. “Kind of prized the grip I had out of Turn 2 and was able to crawl underneath him and have a good run into Turn 3. It was more about just trying to get him a little bit offline from Turn 3 and try and find a way for 4/5/6/7 to see if I could upset his line a little bit.

“Obviously just one of those things. He didn’t see me, clearly. I tried to back out of it last minute. There was a moment where I realized ‘he hasn’t seen me here’ and the way he’s pulling across, it’s tricky. So I hit the brakes and tried to get out of it. But we’re almost too far alongside him that as I’ve backed out of it, he still was coming across and I couldn’t avoid it.

“It’s no secret that we are having a tough time with it at the moment with the parts we’ve got, and this is gonna hurt us for sure.”

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Williams could only run one car in Melbourne as a result of Albon’s FP1 crash that damaged his chassis, and the team won’t have a spare before Miami. Albon admits he was thinking of the potential repercussions as the crash was unfolding, although Williams team principal James Vowles later told RACER the initial images before the car was returned to the garage suggested the chassis had survived the incident.

“The impact itself was relatively low speed, but it’s the way that I hit the tire wall,” Albon added. “Normally, we have these kind of plastic barriers but this was much more dug in, and it really stops very violently. They’re the questions I’m worried about — not for me, for the car — because that’s where you can do damage. We haven’t had the car back yet, we need to assess it. Hopefully, it’s OK.

“Immediately, as soon as I was before I even hit the wall, it was like, ‘This is exactly what we don’t need.’ We need to assess it and try and come back strong for China.”

Ricciardo escapes penalty after Albon clash

Daniel Ricciardo says he was trying to leave space for a car even though he didn’t see Alex Albon as the pair crashed heavily at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix. Albon was attempting to pull alongside Ricciardo out of Turn 2 on the opening lap …

Daniel Ricciardo says he was trying to leave space for a car even though he didn’t see Alex Albon as the pair crashed heavily at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix.

Albon was attempting to pull alongside Ricciardo out of Turn 2 on the opening lap of the race, but the Australian — starting on mediums and with a pace disadvantage to those on softs — had Lance Stroll to his left. With Ricciardo moving towards the outside of the track before the left-handed Turn 3, Albon tried to back out of the move but his left front made contact with Ricciardo’s right rear. Both cars hit the tire wall heavily, causing a red flag.

“We definitely got gobbled up on that medium,” Ricciardo said. “It was weird because the cars in front of us look like they got off the line well. I guess [George] Russell — and pretty sure everyone in front — was on the medium. So it just looks like Yuki [Tsunoda] and I didn’t have the grip that we anticipated.

“As soon as we launched, I could see [Valtteri] Bottas and [Nico] Hulkenberg just split us and go around. Then into Turn 1, I was in the middle, I think with Yuki and an Alpine sling by. Turn 2 I thought, ‘All right, let’s just settle’ and I soon as I got on the throttle, I was still struggling.

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“Then I think Stroll was on my outside, so I was trying to hold him off. Then I guess as I started to come back for Turn 3, Albon’s there. I watched his onboard, and I don’t even know if he wanted to be there, but his traction was so much better on the soft that he was like, ‘Well, there’s space,’ until there wasn’t, so I didn’t see him.

“But honestly, I always assume maybe someone is there — it’s lap 1 so I never try to use the full width of the track and be completely ignorant. But yeah, I guess there was obviously not enough room.

“All things considered, if we could wind back the clock an hour, I would start on the soft. But for the record, I wanted to be on the medium. That’s not something I fought against. But knowing what we know now the soft would have been a lot better for us.”

The stewards investigated the collision after the race and opted to take no further action, given how many cars were a factor in the incident and the fact it was on the opening lap of the race.

“On the approach to Turn 3, the driver of Car 3 [Ricciardo] noticed Car 18 [Stroll] on his left and stated that he wanted to give that car sufficient room,” the stewards’ decision read. “He stated he then looked to the apex of Turn 3. He did not see Car 23 [Albon] on his right.

“The driver of Car 23 stated that he thought he could overtake Car 3 on the outside, into Turn 3, but then suddenly realized that Car 3 had not seen him, applied the brakes but could not avoid the contact with Car 3.

“Accordingly we determine this to be a first lap incident and decide to take no further action.

“If this incident had occurred on a subsequent lap, or without the presence of the third car (Car 18), a different determination would have been made.”

Albon wants to repay ‘true gentleman’ Sargeant with points in Melbourne

Alex Albon says his best way to pay Logan Sargeant back for taking over his car at the Australian Grand Prix would be to score points from 12th on the grid. Williams did not have a spare chassis available due to manufacturing delays, and when Albon …

Alex Albon says his best way to pay Logan Sargeant back for taking over his car at the Australian Grand Prix would be to score points from 12th on the grid.

Williams did not have a spare chassis available due to manufacturing delays, and when Albon damaged his car in a crash in FP1 it meant only one was available for the rest of the race weekend. The decision was taken to withdraw Sargeant and allow Albon to continue, with the latter securing 12th on the grid to start alongside Lewis Hamilton.

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“It’s a different feeling, a weird feeling, if I’m honest,” Albon said. “It’s one thing making a mistake and the pressure of trying to deliver a performance in qualifying, but it’s another feeling when you’ve been given responsibility — and I take that responsibility, it’s not lost on me — so yeah, it’s tough.

“But at the same time the only thing you can do is focus on your job and put it all behind you and treat the weekend like a normal weekend. We’re obviously a session down but generally that’s all I can really do, and so far we’ve done a good job; just got to keep it going, and the ultimate kind of payback to Logan would be some points.

“Yeah, [points] would be a lovely cherry on the top. We have to be realistic though — I’m next to a Mercedes and I don’t think I’ll see him for too long. Yuki [Tsunoda] is surprising — he’s doing a very strong job in the RB, I think our race is going to be with him. It’s the normal Australia, hopefully three red flags and an opportunity to score some points!”

Sargeant has remained in Melbourne to work with Williams and was present in the garage throughout Saturday’s sessions, with Albon saying his teammate has played a valuable role in helping him recover from Friday’s incident.

“We always chat — we’re very open as a team. I was helping him in FP2 and when the decision was made he was helping me. He’s been a true gentleman; he’s been a true team player in this whole situation. We were talking about FP2, things he liked and didn’t like with the car, similar feedback, so can trust him straight away on it and start FP3 where he left off.”

Racing in the knowledge that another major incident would leave Williams without a usable chassis, Albon insists he hasn’t let it influence how hard he pushes and suggests that the team knew it was likely to be caught out by the lack of a spare chassis at some stage.

“I mean, we’ve been driving like this since race one so it hasn’t changed, and our mindset can’t pull back — you just give it everything. Especially when the midfield is as it is, you can’t leave a percent on the table.

“It’s not how we want to go racing, how I want to go racing, how anyone wants to go racing, but we are in this position. We’ve got to scrap, we’ve got to fight, we’ve obviously put a lot of work and effort and reliance on the factory and it’s been tough. It’s too much, so we’re in a pickle — we’ve been in a pickle since winter testing and it’s catching us up as we knew it would do, so hopefully by China or whenever it’s going to calm down a bit.”

Full faith in Sargeant, but repairs uncertain before Suzuka – Vowles

Williams team principal James Vowles says he has full faith in Logan Sargeant despite giving his car to Alex Albon at the Australian Grand Prix, but cannot guarantee the team will have the second chassis repaired in time for the next race in Japan. …

Albon crashed in Friday practice in Melbourne and damaged his chassis to the point it couldn’t be repaired at the track, and is returning to the UK. Unusually at this point in the season, Williams does not yet have a spare chassis manufactured, so the decision was taken to give Sargeant’s car to Albon and withdraw the American from the rest of the race weekend. However, Vowles insists it doesn’t show a lack of faith in Sargeant.

“No, I don’t think that’s the case,” Vowles said. “The fact I re-signed him shows you I have faith in him. This year I think you’ve seen he’s been closer to Alex than before.

“However, I have one car, and just one car. There are five very fast teams taking up those top ten positions and there’s no points apart from if you’re in the top ten. There’s one point separating the bottom five teams at the moment, so every point will make a difference between now and the end of the year.

“In that regard, you therefore put your money on the driver who this year has been slightly ahead of the other one, which is Alex. So I’ve reset everything. Taken a view from Bahrain, taken a view from Saudi and taken a view from here which of the two drivers was more likely to score a point.”

Explaining how Williams ended up without a spare chassis even at the third round of the season, Vowles admits it’s due to the changes he is trying to implement in the team.

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“When I started in February last year, the plan was to have three chassis at round one. As we went through large changes in organization, adding performance and technology changes on the back end and processes, we started to push out fundamentally certain elements of things.

“There’s a finite amount of resources and, as we were going through an inefficient structure and making transformation at the same time, we started to cause problems. Those problems, before, could have translated to adding metal components or adding last year’s rear wings.

“In this particular case, the third chassis started to get delayed and delayed and delayed, and I think one of the things were were transparent about both in Bahrain but also on the BBC podcast that we did, we were very late with these cars — very, very late. We pushed everything to the absolute limit.

“The fallout of that is we didn’t have a spare chassis. Even then it was intended to be coming here at round three, but it got delayed and delayed again as other items got pushed back as a result.

“Without doubt, if we go back to root cause, it’s the fact that we’ve added significant processes. We’ve completely changed how we make a chassis. I think I described it the other week in Bahrain that there’s almost 10 times the amount of parts in a chassis compared to last year.

“That’s a level of complexity that takes an organization to a new level. But the ramifications aren’t [that] the third chassis is any more difficult to make. We’ve already made two. It’s more that the knock-on effect from all the work that we’ve done that pushed everything very late has pushed everything else very late.”

When pushed on if he could guarantee that Williams would have the second chassis repaired in time for the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks’ time — with the car set to return to the UK on Monday and the third chassis further delayed — Vowles admits there remains an element of uncertainty.

“Until the chassis is back in the UK and they’ve properly inspected it from not just photos that we have, and NDT (non-destructive testing) that we have here, but properly get into it, no one can give you 100 percent certitude.

“What I can tell you is based on the evidence that we have so far and the work that’s completed overnight, everything looks completely feasible. I’ve seen chassis in worse states come back from this. 100 percent is a difficult number to give you, and as a statistics man I wouldn’t say 100 percent, but I would say there is a very high probability it will all be fine.”

Williams withdraws Logan Sargeant after Alex Albon’s crash in Australia

Williams Racing announced that it has withdrawn Logan Sargeant after Alex Albon’s crash in Australia on Friday.

[autotag]Williams Racing[/autotag] has made a shocking decision ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. [autotag]Alex Albon[/autotag], who wrecked his car in practice, will replace [autotag]Logan Sargeant[/autotag] as Williams failed to bring a third chassis to Melbourne. It is a mind-boggling and unfair decision for Sargeant, who lost his ride in Australia for no reason.

Only 19 cars will be in the race in Australia as Albon continues the race weekend in Sargeant’s entry. Formula 1 teams typically have a third chassis in case the original needs to be replaced, but Williams failed to bring one to Australia. What makes this even more confusing is why Sargeant suffers the consequences of Albon’s actions.

pic.twitter.com/5ErRgJUQen

— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) March 22, 2024

Williams understands that Albon has been better and has more experience than Sargeant, but this move goes against the ethics of owning a race team. Hopefully, Sargeant uses this as motivation to improve and perform better. For Albon, he will try to give Williams points in Australia for the championship battles in 2024

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Williams situation ‘unacceptable in modern day Formula 1’ – Vowles

Williams team principal James Vowles says the situation that led to Alex Albon taking over Logan Sargeant’s car at the Australian Grand Prix is “unacceptable in modern day Formula 1,” but also a symptom of the circumstances the team is currently …

Albon crashed heavily in FP1 and sustained damage to his chassis that could not be repaired ahead of Saturday, but Williams does not have a spare and so has been left with one car for the rest of the race weekend. As a result, it has decided to withdraw Sargeant from the event so that Albon can take over his teammate’s car, and Vowles says the team should not have left itself in such a position.

“We are hugely disappointed that the damage sustained to the chassis has meant we need to withdraw it from the weekend,” Vowles said. “It’s unacceptable in modern day Formula 1 not to have a spare chassis, but it is a reflection of how behind we were in the winter period and an illustration of why we need to go through significant change in order to get ourselves in a better position for the future. As a result, we have had some very difficult decisions to make this afternoon.

“While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that he did not make, every race counts when the midfield is tighter than ever, so we have made the call based on our best potential to score points this weekend.

“This decision was not made lightly, and we cannot thank Logan enough for his graceful acceptance, demonstrating his dedication to the team; he is a true team player. This will prove a tough weekend for Williams, and this situation is not one that we will put ourselves in again.”

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Albon scored 27 points for Williams last season as it finished seventh in the constructors’ championship, with Sargeant scoring one 10th place in his rookie year. Melbourne also saw an impressive qualifying performance from Albon last year as he lined up eighth on the grid, although a crash — at the same corner as Friday’s incident — when running sixth cost him a chance of significant points.

The damaged chassis will now be returned to Williams’ headquarters in Grove, UK, for repairs ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka in two weeks’ time.

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 …

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.”

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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.

Get to know the Formula One drivers playing alongside PGA Tour stars in the Netflix Cup

Don’t know much about Formula One or its drivers? We’ve got you covered.

Netflix will air its first live sporting event on Tuesday night with the Netflix Cup, a golf event featuring four teams of PGA Tour players paired with Formula One drivers.

Held at the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas – ranked 19th on Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 casino golf courses in the U.S. – the 6 p.m. ET event will look to play off the success of the streaming service’s Full Swing and Drive to Survive shows that follow both the PGA Tour and Formula One, respectively. Formula One will host its first-ever race on the Strip in Las Vegas later this weekend.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the world of Formula One, get to know the four drivers who will be teeing it up with Justin Thomas, Max Homa, Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa.

Max Homa and Alex Albon headline pairings for first live golf telecast on Netflix at Wynn Golf Club

The event is one of many to kick start the Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix.

They may all be must-see TV.

Netflix, which is set to have a live golf telecast for the first time, has announced pairings for the first-ever Netflix Cup, which matches a “Drive to Survive” racer and a “Full Swing” golfer in a two-man competition.

Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas is the host for the event, on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. ET. The course is ranked 19th on Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 casino golf courses in the U.S.

The event is one of many to kick start the Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix. The pairings are:

Rickie Fowler and Lando Norris
Justin Thomas and Carlos Sainz
Collin Morikawa and Pierre Gasly
Max Homa and Alex Albon

“We love to see how our sports series have brought increased fandom to sports leagues and competitions all over the world,” said Gabe Spitzer, Vice President of Nonfiction Sports at Netflix, in a release. “The Netflix Cup will take that energy to the next level with global stars from two popular hits competing in our first-ever live sports event.”

WTRAndretti’s Albon hopes for Rolex 24 fall through

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s hopes of having Alex Albon as part of its line-up for the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona have fallen through. In September, team owner Wayne Taylor spoke of a current grand prix driver who was set to join the team’s …

Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s hopes of having Alex Albon as part of its line-up for the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona have fallen through.

In September, team owner Wayne Taylor spoke of a current grand prix driver who was set to join the team’s line-up at Daytona in January, but said an announcement wouldn’t be made until after the end of the Formula 1 season. RACER understands that driver was Albon, who had been approached and shown a keen interest. Williams was fully supportive of the deal and the opportunity for Albon to gain experience in different machinery as long as the commitment did not negatively impact on Formula 1 responsibilities.

After initial positive discussions, it is understood that a number of factors led to the deal not progressing. While Williams was on board with the idea, the team and driver are limited somewhat by the earlier start of pre-season testing from February 21-23. The 2024 F1 season starts in Bahrain on the weekend of February 29-March 2.

Although the logistics proved unworkable for all involved on this occasion, RACER understands Albon remains interested in sampling endurance racing at Daytona in future an attempt to widen his skillset – something Fernando Alonso has highlighted the benefits of in the past.

Albon would have followed a number of current drivers on the grid in competing at Daytona after Alonso, Lance Stroll and Lando Norris – then a Formula 2 driver – all took part in the 2018 edition in LMP2 machinery, while Kevin Magnussen was due to race last year before an operation on his left hand ruled him out as he needed to time his recovery for the F1 season.