Williams Needs “To Have A Few Clean Weekends” As Albon And Sargeant Share Their Thoughts On Chinese GP

Williams, along with two other teams, is yet to score a point in 2024. What more, the team had to deal with some unusual problems regarding the lack of their spare chassis, resulting in an uncomfortable decision. James Vowles, the team principal, has been criticized by numerous fans for his logical and business solution of having only one drivable car in Australia – leaving out Logan Sargeant.

Now, we’re probably all hoping the team has a calm weekend without crashes like the one of Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo in Japan. The debated spare chassis still isn’t ready, and with an action-packed Sprint happening in China, both Sargeant and Albon should be careful not to cause more sleepless nights for the mechanics.

Today, on Thursday, is a media day ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix and even though neither was in the press conference taking place earlier in the day, we had the chance to hear the opinions of William’s drivers.

“I’m hoping some of the top teams are a little less… They need a bit more preparation and the smaller teams can capitalize on that. The team has done a massive job to get all the parts ready for this weekend, it’s an opportunity weekend, let’s say. I’m focused on the present, we know what we’ve got, and we understand our car quite well,” said Alex Albon.

Last year, the Thai got twenty-seven points for Williams in total, compared to his teammate’s one point. He basically single-handedly secured P7 for the team in the Constructor’s Championship and placed thirteenth himself in the Drivers’ Championship. This season so far, Albon hasn’t been very lucky.

With two chances to score points this weekend, – in the Sprint and the actual race, – will he be able to show what’s in him and perhaps remind all the teams on the grid he has his place on the drivers’ market?

However, if there’s someone even more unlucky, it would be Logan Sargeant. Due to the big drama around the missing spare chassis, he didn’t even get the chance to race in the Australian Grand Prix – and not even by his own fault. Unfortunately, the fact is that the American doesn’t frequently score points even if he does drive the car.

Admittedly, he’ll have it hard in China, because he has never driven there before. But, Sargeant still keeps some hope: “It’s a bit of an unknown, I haven’t raced here before and for the team as well, the last time they were here was with the old generation car! Hopefully we can put ourselves in a good position, I think the field will be as tight as it always is.”

“We have the two cars, but we don’t have a spare chassis, so we have to be cautious. I’m excited to be here, to have a few clean weekends for the team.”