With the group not having constructed up a spare chassis, Albon’s FP1 shunt final day out at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit meant Williams was compelled to enter just one automobile from Saturday onwards whereas the broken FW46 was flown again to the UK for preliminary investigation and repairs.
To maximise its possibilities of scoring factors within the ultra-competitive midfield, Williams withdrew Sargeant from the occasion so it may place Albon within the American’s automobile.
Whereas the broken monocoque has been repaired in time for this weekend’s Suzuka occasion, Williams doesn’t anticipate to have a spare tub on-site till Miami in early Might.
Sargeant may even stay within the repaired ex-Albon automobile this weekend, given the time constraints of refitting each chassis to accommodate one other driver change.
“It is the repaired one,” stated Sargeant when requested which automobile he’ll run this weekend.
“Simply because the workload to change the automobiles again over would simply be far an excessive amount of for the mechanics. However the chassis restore went higher than anticipated.”
The restore has solely added 100 grams.
Workforce principal James Vowles says the chassis harm was to a suspension insert and there was no crack in tub, so a driver isn’t anticipated to note a distinction between the 2 automobiles.
Reflecting on the preliminary shunt in Melbourne for Albon, Sargeant stated his consideration quickly turned to how tight Williams was on spare components.
Alex Albon, Williams Racing FW46
Photograph by: Williams
He defined: “I do not suppose we actually, at the least I, hadn’t thought of it earlier than that.
“If I am sincere, once I see Alex crash, the very first thing that goes by means of my head is, ‘I do know that we’re down on spares’.
“After all, I used to be somewhat bit involved for the place we stood as a group. However it’s one of many arduous components that we have needed to cope with by means of the beginning of this season – not having these large security nets.
“It is someplace that as a group, we’re actually making an attempt to develop to be higher and get extra on high of that early within the season.”
Sargeant confirmed that Williams has not brazenly mentioned how it could deal with the same incident in Japan whereas it awaits the completion of a spare automobile.
Nevertheless, the shortage of a standby automobile is not going to alter his driving: “It is, once more, a scenario that we needed to cope with by means of the primary three races.
“We went to Saudi with the identical scenario. And naturally, it is a type of issues that you need to watch out. However on the similar time, you may’t be. It is Components 1.
“For those who’re cautious, you are nowhere. So, it is actually not even a query – you need to be dedicated, assured and hope nothing goes flawed.”
Sargeant added that he ‘understood the statistics’ behind the choice to bench him and enter Albon in Australia.
Watch: F1 2024 Japanese Grand Prix Preview – Every part You Want To Know
