Alex Albon ‘could miss’ Australian Grand Prix with Williams facing rare decision | F1 | Sport
Getting to grips with the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in FP1, Albon lost control of his Williams car, crashing hard into the outside wall at turn six before rebounding off for a second impact on the outside wall at turn seven.
This incident caused a lengthy red flag stoppage and significant damage to the chassis, preventing Albon from taking part in the second practice session of the day.
The crash was so fierce that it significantly damaged the engine and gearbox too, leaving the Williams engineers with a major task on their hands if they were to get Albon ready to qualify on Saturday.
The major kicker for Albon is that Williams did not opt to bring a spare chassis to the Australian GP. Therefore, if his crash caused irreparable damage, the Grove-based team will only be able to field one car when qualifying gets underway.
Team principal James Vowles will therefore be left with a rare decision, choosing which driver will utilise the single car. As the driver with the best track record since joining the team, Albon would be a prime candidate, but it would be an extremely harsh move to take the drive away from Logan Sargeant, who kept his FW46 out of the wall throughout the two sessions.
Should he ultimately have to miss Sunday’s race, Albon will be pleased to see the back of the Australian GP. The Thai-British driver crashed heavily at the same part of the race track in 2023 while running in a points-paying position.
With Albon’s participation in doubt, Williams’ chances of claiming their first points of the 2024 season are also doubtful. Vowles’ team came close to scoring with a P11 finish in Jeddah, but are still yet to open their account.
Instead, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen‘s creative tactics allowed Haas to score the final point on offer at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, leaving Williams in P7 ahead of the competitive action in Melbourne this weekend.
