Williams defends Sargeant sacrifice in Australia

Williams team principal James Vowles says the razor-thin margins in Formula 1’s midfield left him with no choice but to prioritise the team’s interests by putting Alexander Albon in Logan Sargeant’s car for the Australian Grand Prix.

With one-third of FP1 remaining at Albert Park, Albon crashed and was unable to take part in the rest of the session or FP2 due to a lack of parts to repair the damaged backup chassis.

Faced with qualifying and the race, Williams elected to withdraw Albon’s original entry and have him drive the chassis that Sargeant used in the opening practice sessions.

“The midfield fight is incredibly tight, a few tenths here or there can make the difference between P10 and P6 at the end of the season. And currently, the gaps between us [midfield teams] are just a few tenths. As painful as it is to see a driver not able to race on Sunday through no fault of their own, I have to put the team first,” Vowles said.

“Logan has been fantastic. In this regard, he’s supporting the team. The decision is clearly painful for him, but equally, he’s very strong because he knows the team comes above all else.”

Williams found itself in this awkward situation due to delays in its manufacturing process for its 2024 car, which meant that in order to get both cars ready for the start of the season, the build of the spare car was pushed back.

“We stretched ourselves to the absolute limit with the work we’ve done over the winter,” explained Vowles. “We pushed everything to the nth degree. That means some of the production work went late, and as a consequence, the spare chassis was delayed.

“No team would come to a race without a spare chassis. It’s a risk, and the best-case scenario is uncomfortable, and the worst-case scenario is one car not racing. That’s where we find ourselves today.

“We must ensure we never find ourselves in this position again. We’re here to race, and having one car here on Saturday and Sunday is not what we should be doing.”