It was not the race that Alex Albon and Williams’ Racing would have been hoping for despite looking strong for the majority of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World championship weekend in Melbourne.
Albon qualified really well and started the race in a season best position of eighth, and looked good value for points in the race. However, Albon crashed out of the race causing the first red flag on lap seven.
Albon took full responsibility for the incident, and offered his apologies to the team claiming that the weekend had offered “a good chance to score points.” The Thai driver has already previously scored points this season, finishing tenth in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
“We’re still looking at the data but there was nothing unusual in the corner itself. When I lost the car, I was going through slower than the previous lap; I went wide on the corner before and spiked the tyre temperatures, losing grip and going into the next corner a bit hot, so I think that’s what happened but we need to look at it.
“With all the accidents, it was a good chance to score points this weekend, so I’m very sorry to the team. I’m disappointed, as we had a great car today and were really strong.”
Logan Sargeant Labels Australian GP as a “really tricky day”
Logan Sargeant failed to score points in the third consecutive race after a really tricky Australian Grand Prix for himself and the team.
The American driver struggled in the first stint and was unlucky with his strategy, which saw him pit just before the first red flag was brought out due to his teammate crashing out of the race.
Despite showing good pace on the hard compound tyre, the rookie failed to impact the order. The final restart of the race was a chaotic one, which saw Sargeant collide with another driver. Sargeant locked up his front tyres on braking for turn one when the race resumed with two laps to go, meaning he couldn’t have done much more to avoid colliding with his fellow F1 rookie, Nyck de Vries, forcing both to retire.
“The race in general just didn’t quite fall our way, with it being a really tricky day. We pitted to the medium tyre following the first safety car, and it just wasn’t the tyre to be on today and I really struggled with it.
“Once we got to the hard tyre, the pace wasn’t too bad, so to end it like that is unfortunate. We tried to take some chances today and it just didn’t pay off. I’ve learnt a lot from today, so hopefully can use these learnings going forward.”
