In Melbourne, Logan Sargeant had to sit out for Alex Albon, the Suzuka comeback started with a crash: Nevertheless, no red lantern for the US boy
Sometimes it’s the little things: At least Williams driver Logan Sargeant can hand over the red lantern to Sauber’s Guanyu Zhou in Suzuka qualifying – despite his accident on Friday, which cost the American valuable time on the track, and caused further problems for his team after their disastrous Melbourne performance with just one car
Given that, Sargeant is quite satisfied with his qualifying: “I had to pick myself up after yesterday and make a good turnaround. It’s never easy to go straight into third practice after a crash like that, with only a few laps to go,” says the Williams driver, giving an insight into his emotional life: “I didn’t feel super comfortable in the car this morning either, but in qualifying it was suddenly in good shape.”
The reason: “We made big changes before qualifying, but I was able to adapt to them relatively quickly – and I also feel that we managed to keep going today and not let yesterday influence us too much.” Sargeant: “In the end, we were one and a half tenths off Q2. It was very close, but I’m generally happy with the way I drove.”
Team-mate Alex Albon made it into the second section, but – like Sargeant in the first part – was only able to leave one car behind him, the Alpine of Esteban Ocon: 14th place for the Thai-British driver. According to Albon, that was as good as it got, despite a spin in the Spoon corner: “I didn’t lose much there. It might have improved my lap time a little, but not my position,” believes the Williams driver.
Only Albon on the road with a smaller wing
The little things – in Albon’s case in Suzuka, this is above all the front wing, which is one size smaller than last time: “It’s no secret that we have fewer wings than everyone else. This weekend we are here with a slightly smaller version, because we had the feeling at the last races that we could have been a bit narrower. That’s why we’re a bit braver this weekend.”
Due to the lack of resources, the wing will only be used on Albon’s car in Suzuka for the time being. “It could give us some top speed on the straights, I hope that helps in the race. Let’s see how it behaves tomorrow,” says Albon, thanking the team for the update: “I think it’s better, but we still need to fully understand what it does.”
However, it is no surprise that points are likely to be difficult for the traditional team from Grove in the fourth race of the year: “It has not been a great weekend for us so far, we are a bit behind,” says Albon, according to whom the track characteristics do not exactly suit his Williams FW46 – tire wear is also a concern: “The track here is so aggressive with this old asphalt. It really wears out your tires if you slide a bit too much. “
This assessment is also underlined by Dave Robson, Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance: “Both drivers found it difficult to manage the tires over one lap in qualifying. Tomorrow should be quite a challenge because they will have to balance pace and degradation.”
Robson: “In addition, it will be dry and warmer tomorrow, which will also shift the wear between the front and rear axles. That will make it even more difficult. “
