Due to a crash in practice at Albert Park, Albon’s Formula 1 car got badly damaged and couldn’t be fixed. Williams, the team Albon drives for, didn’t have an extra car ready. So, they made a tough decision. They decided to let Albon race in the car of Sargeant, another driver on the team. This meant Sargeant couldn’t race for the rest of the weekend.
James Vowles, a key person at Williams, said this was one of the toughest decisions the team had to make. But he explained that they did it because they’re in a tight competition with other teams in the lower half of the championship.
Vowles said, “The competition is very close between the teams. Even a single point could make a big difference at the end of the season. Our cars are very close in speed. So, as much as it hurts to see a driver miss a race, the team’s success is the most important thing.”
This situation happened because Williams was late in making their 2024 car. They were already rushing to get two cars ready for the start of the season. Because of this rush, they didn’t have an extra car ready in case of emergencies.
Vowles said, “We pushed ourselves to the limit to get everything ready for the season. But because of this rush, we couldn’t finish the spare car on time. No team wants to go to a race without an extra car. It’s risky. In the best case, it’s uncomfortable, and in the worst case, a car can’t race. Unfortunately, that’s what happened this time.”
Apart from the damage to Albon’s car, his gearbox and engine were also damaged. Williams will send the damaged car back to their base in the UK for repairs. They hope to have it ready for the next race in Japan.
Vowles added, “We’ll get the car back to the UK as fast as we can and fix it. We want to have both cars ready for the next race.”
Also read: EU Lifts Sanctions on Ex-Haas F1 Racer; Mazepin Cleared