Williams has announced it is withdrawing Logan Sargeant from this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix following damage sustained to Alex Albon’s FW46 in opening practice.
During Friday’s first practice session at Albert Park, Albon became a passenger after succumbing to oversteer during the exit of Turn 6, which sent the car slamming into the concrete wall on the inside of the track before skating across the circuit to hit the outside wall on Turn 7.
Albon was unharmed during the incident, but the same couldn’t be said of his FW46 with the chassis heavily damaged with matters made worse given the team had no spare available due to time constraints throughout a difficult winter break.
The Williams driver sat out of FP2 whilst the outfit assesses whether the chassis can be repaired in time, with a decision looming given there isn’t a spare chassis available.
That left the team with a decision to be made should repairs to Albon’s car not succeed and Team Principal James Vowles hinted that the end result would indeed end up as Sargeant out, Albon in.
“One point here will make the difference between sixth and 10th potentially in the championship, simple as that,” Vowles told Motorsport.com.
“It just depends. I want to see how FP2 is, I want to see how the car performs. I want to see what options we have available to us on the chassis here as well.”
Now, a statement released by the Grove-based squad confirms the American driver has been withdrawn in favour of Albon.
“Following Alex Albon’s accident during FP1 at the Australian Grand Prix, Williams Racing Confirms that due to the extensive damage sustained, it is forced to withdraw the chassis for the remainder of the grand prix,” the statement began.
“This chassis will be returned to the team’s HQ at Grove for repair.
“Due to the fact that a third chassis is unavailable, the team can confirm it has taken the decision for Alex to compete for the remainder of the weekend in the chassis that Logan Sargeant drove in FP1 and FP2.”
Albon’s reputation for extracting points-scoring performances for Williams, tallying 27 of the team’s 28 in 2023, led to speculation that Sargeant would eventually make way for his more experienced team-mate.
However, given that it was Albon’s error that led to the predicament Williams now finds itself in, Sargeant has every right to feel hard done by after being withdrawn from competing when he isn’t the one culpable.
“This is the hardest moment I can remember in my career and it’s absolutely not easy,” Sargeant said.
“I am however completely here for the team and will continue to contribute in any way that I can this weekend to maximise what we can do.”
With Vowles and Williams proceeding in such a fashion, it calls into question why Sargeant was given a second bite of the F1 cherry in 2024 in the first place, if they feel he hasn’t the capability to score points when available.
Speaking on the decision, Vowles said in the team statement “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.”
Albon meanwhile gets the opportunity to repay the team’s faith in him and make amends for his error in opening practice.
“Yeah, 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,” Albon said as he explained how the crash occurred.
“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.
“I just feel bad for everyone back at the factory and here at the track.”
Speaking after the announcement that he is set to replace his team-mate for the remainder of the weekend, Albon admitted he wouldn’t want to suffer the same fate.
“I have to be totally honest and say that no driver would want to give up his seat,” he said.
“I would never want anything like this to happen.
“Logan has always been a consummate professional and a team player from day one, and this won’t be an easy one for him to take.
“At this point though, I cannot dwell on the situation and my only job now is to maximise our potential this weekend and work with the whole team to make sure we do the best job possible.”
