Vowles Confirms It Is an Option For Albon To Take Sargeant's Car For Australian Grand Prix

Friday, 22 March 2024 at 09:00

Updated at Friday, 22 March 2024 at 12:50

Williams Racing's team principal, James Vowles, confirmed he might consider putting Alex Albon in Logan Sargeant's car for the 2024 Australian Grand Prix qualifying and race.

Alex Albon suffered a big crash during the Free Practice session one when he lost his Williams on the exit of turn six and collided with the wall on the inside of turn seven.

The initial impact broke his right front suspension, then he bounced off the wall and slid further to the other side of the track, hitting the left side of his car in the wall on the outside of turn eight.

This impact, in turn, eight, supposedly damaged the 27-year-old's engine and gearbox. He then obviously didn't finish the FP1 session, but he also didn't attend FP2.

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Apparently, Williams does not have a spare chassis on-site at Albert Park Circuit, which means the Thai driver might not be able to take part in the Grand Prix if Williams engineers don't find a way to fix his car. As quoted by motorsport.com, James Vowles said:

"It's the worst you could have ever had. We do not have a third chassis here, that's correct. So now it's just whether we can repair this one."

"We have repair kits, fundamentally of those I'm not yet sure, because it's a very serious accident and with what happened on the front [right] corner. One point here will make the difference between sixth and 10th potentially in the championship, simple as that."

While we might not see Albon's car during the remainder of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, that doesn't mean we won't see the 27-year-old.

According to GP Blog, Vowles confirmed that Albon replacing Sargeant in Williams's seat is an option that the team might consider.

However, it would be much better for Williams if both of their cars were on the starting grid of the race on Sunday, so Vowles wants to put all the effort into trying to fix Albon's car first.

Update: Albon will indeed take Sargeant's seat after the team has decided their chances are higher with the 27-year-old in the car.