The nightmare of the evening before
The goal for the Williams after landing in Japan for the fourth GP of the world championship it was mainly one: avoiding accidents or collisions. All this after what happened in Melbourne, when Albon ended up against the barriers and put the team in difficulty, without spare frames. In that case, in fact, the Anglo-Thai driver took to the track with the car of his teammate Logan Sargeant, thus excluded from the Australian GP after a disputed choice by the team.
The first fear of the weekend
Once in the Far East, and with the same problem linked to the lack of a reserve chassis, Sargeant himself had failed Williams' aim, having an impact during FP1. Fortunately, the American then continued the rest of the weekend (held with Albon's 'accident' chassis), but the nightmare of the historic English team returned in the race, this time with Albon.
Weekend without respite
Immediately after leaving, the 28-year-old entered collided with Daniel Ricciardofinishing his race early again against protections. An episode which, in addition to having pushed the Commissioners to display the red flag, has regenerated the nightmare of the spare chassis which may not be available in China or even in Miami: “I didn't make a great start, but having the Hard tires I had good traction entering Turn 2, but I don't think Daniel Ricciardo saw me and it was a bit of a standstill – has explained – I tried to brake, but I couldn't get out of the way fast enough. It's a difficult defeat to accept, so all in all it was a very frustrating and disappointing weekend. It wasn't a big accident, but the way I hit the wall of tires the car caught and went under it. I hit aggressively, so this it will not help fix the damage to the machine. Looking ahead, we will assess the damage and we will prepare the car in time for China“.
Another risk for Sargeant
GP to forget even for Sargeantthis time for different reasons: actually the author of a good first half of the race, the American finished off track due to a lockup at the entrance to turn 9. Even though he didn't hit the wall, the American reversed his gear in the sand to get back on the track, finishing in 17th and last position: “After the second stop I was pushing hard to catch up with the group in front of me and do something – has explained – I hit the exit curb, stopped and went straight. That moment was disappointing, but there had been some positives before. We had a bold strategy, trying to race Hard, Hard, Hard, which I think would have worked. Of course, on the lap where we tried to pit, everyone pitted, and instead of passing four cars we were passed by four cars, which can make the difference in a race. If it had gone as planned, the race would have played out very differently. Nonetheless, we tried to adapt to the situation, starting from the garage. We could have still achieved a decent result, but I made that little mistake.”
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