Williams’ incredible decision with Albon after destroying his car and “the hardest moment” of Sargeant’s career

After a very unrewarding start to the 2024 season, surely Logan Sargeant I dreamed of changing my luck this weekend in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. However, the American will have to continue waiting to consummate his revenge, since he will not even be able to give the present in the third test of the year. And it will not be because of his own problem, but because of an external difficulty: the Williams team decided to remove him from his car, which will be used by his teammate, the Thai Alexander Albonwho during the first free practice session this Friday suffered an accident that left his car inoperable.

40 minutes had passed in the first round at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne when Albon lost control of his car, after stepping on the curb at turn 6 of the track, and ended up crashing into the wall at turn 7, which caused that red flags were displayed and the activity stopped. After 10 minutes, during which the blue car was removed and the track was cleaned (numerous remains of the Williams had been scattered on the asphalt), the session could be completed.

In that first run, Sargeant did the best of his 22 laps in 1:19.519 and finished 14th, 955 thousandths behind the British Lando Norris (McLaren), who was the fastest. A while later, in the second practice session, in which Albon could not participate, the American was 13th and was 1.3 seconds behind the Ferrari of Monegasque Charles Leclerc. While the driver born 23 years ago in Fort Lauderdale did his homework on the track, his team’s mechanics examined Albon’s damaged car in the pits.

From that evaluation came bitter news for the North American. When night had fallen in Melbourne, Williams announced that the damage to the Thai’s car prevented a repair during the following hours and forced the unit to be sent to the team’s headquarters in Grove (United Kingdom). Without a spare vehicle, The English team decided that its only FW46 available would be used for the rest of the weekend by Albonso, without eating or drinking it, Sargeant will have to watch the Australian Grand Prix through a screen.

“This is the most difficult moment I can remember in my career”, acknowledged the American. “This is not easy at all. However, I am here completely for the team and I will continue to contribute in everything I can this weekend to maximize what we can do”, tried to clarify the driver who joined the Williams Academy (to which Franco Colapinto currently belongs) in October 2021 and debuted in Formula 1 in 2023, after finishing fourth in the Formula 2 championship in 2022.

Between mild guilt and the inevitable pragmatism faced with a crossroads like this, Albon thanked his teammate for his gesture: “I have to be totally honest and say that no pilot would want to give up his seat. But Logan was the consummate professional and team player from day one. “This won’t be easy for him.” In any case, it didn’t take him too long to focus on what’s to come: “I can’t dwell on the situation. “My only job now is to maximize our potential this weekend and work with the entire team to make sure we do the best job possible.”

Williams’ decision to prioritize Albon over Sargeant appears to have clear backing in the numbers: The Thai contributed 27 of the 28 points that the team achieved in 2023 and that allowed it to finish seventh in the Constructors’ Championship (his teammate barely managed one unit for his 10th place in Austin). This year, in which Williams is one of the four teams that have not yet joined (the others are Kick Sauber, RB and Alpine), the Asian finished 15th in Bahrain and 11th in Saudi Arabia, while the American finished 20th and 14th, respectively.

Beyond the statistics, Williams’ response to this difficulty made it starkly clear that the team is very far from that structure that in its golden years, in the 1980s and 1990s, achieved nine crowns in the Constructors’ Championship and seven drivers’ titles hand in hand with figures like the French Alain Prostthe Brazilian Nelson Piquet and the british Nigel Mansell.

“We are very disappointed that the damage suffered to (Albon’s) chassis has meant that we have to withdraw him from the weekend. “It is unacceptable in today’s 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 make significant changes to be in a better position for the future,” James admitted. Vowles, team director, who acknowledged that it had been a “very difficult decision” to remove Sargeant from his FW46.

“While Logan shouldn’t have to suffer for a mistake he didn’t make, every race counts when you’re tighter than ever, so we made the decision based on our best potential to score points this weekend. This decision was not made lightly and we cannot thank Logan enough for his gracious acceptance, which demonstrates his dedication to the team. He is a true team player,” justified Vowles, who promised that after this “difficult weekend for Williams,” the team will not suffer a similar situation due to material shortages again.

Aside from the difficulties that Williams suffered, Ferrari showed its potential in Friday’s training for the Australian Grand Prix: the Monegasque Charles Leclerc set the best time of the day (1:17.277), while the Spanish Carlos Sainz finished third. Between the two men from the Italian team was the leader of the competition, the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull).

“From the first laps I felt comfortable in the car. But we have a lot of work to do because Red Bull didn’t go all out. They are always ahead,” acknowledged Leclerc, who will try to end the streak of nine consecutive victories with which Verstappen arrived in Australia.

Winner in Melbourne a year ago, the three-time world champion, who leads the competition by 15 points over his teammate Sergio Pérez, damaged the floor of his vehicle in the first practice session and missed 22 minutes of the second while his mechanics repaired the failure.

For his part, Sainz finished in a creditable third position after undergoing an appendicitis operation two weeks ago that left him out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. “I am happy to have been able to complete the entire day without problems. Obviously, I’m a little tired after spending two weeks almost in bed recovering. Despite that, I was able to do the entire day without any pain,” said the Madrid native.

The other side of that positive day for Sainz in front of the 124,000 people who packed the Albert Park facilities was the disappointing performance of the British Lewis Hamilton, who had to settle for a very distant 18th place in the second session, after finishing ninth in the first on board. of his Mercedes.

“In the first session, the car was generally good. To continue learning we made some important changes in the second round and unfortunately things got worse,” explained the seven-time world champion, who from 2025 will race with a Ferrari.

“Obviously I don’t feel very well. We had one of the worst sessions I’ve probably had in a long time. After that, I feel the least confident I’ve ever felt with this car, but there are positive aspects to take away from the first run we did,” acknowledged the Englishman.

The third practice session for the Australian Grand Prix will be on Friday at 10:30 p.m. (Argentina time), while qualifying will take place on Saturday at 2. The race, which will cover 58 laps on the 5,278-meter track, It will leave on Sunday at 1:00.