F1 | Crash Albon: Williams has no spare chassis. Here are the scenarios

It will be an intense day of work at Williams. The Grove team, in fact, does not have a reserve chassis on site, but team principal James Vowles has confirmed that there is the option of passing Logan Sargeant's car to Alex Albon on Saturday, leaving the American stuck in the pits for the qualifications.

The Anglo-Thai driver was the protagonist of a bad accident in the first free practice session in Australia, initially hitting a concrete wall with the right side of the car at high speed, and then also damaging the other side of the car against a barrier on the opposite side.

Fortunately, Albon suffered no physical consequences, while the car was heavily damaged, so much so that he had to miss the second free practice session due to the impossibility of completing the repairs in time.

The team will now subject the damaged chassis to a thorough check via NDT [test non distruttivi] with tools on site to determine if it can be repaired overnight.

“It was a pretty serious accident. The engine is damaged, the gearbox is split in two and the chassis is damaged,” Vowles told Motorsport.com, illustrating the severity of the damage sustained in the impact.

Williams chose to go all the way in the winter work to prepare the cars, taking advantage of every last second available before testing. Not having a spare frame, now the only hope will be to repair the damaged one with the tools available on site. “It's the worst that could happen. We don't have a third chassis, it's true. So now it's just a question of whether we can repair this. We have some repair kits, but basically I'm not sure yet, because this is a very bad accident. serious and for what happened at the front [destra]”.

Vowles confirmed that if Albon's chassis cannot be repaired, one of the options on the table could be to entrust him with Sargeant's car, as the Anglo-Thai is the most experienced driver and the one who has the greatest chance of being able to fight for the points. Considering what we have seen at the start of the season, with the five top teams well ahead, even one point can make the difference in the lower part of the field.

Logan Sargeant, Williams FW46

Photo by: Mark Horsburgh / Motorsport Images

“A point here will make the difference between sixth and tenth place in the championship, it's simple. [Su cosa faremo] Depends. I want to see how FP2 goes, I want to see how the car behaves. I also want to see what options we have available on the chassis.” There are therefore three possible scenarios: that the car is repaired, that Albon takes Sargeant's car or that the Anglo-Thai remains in the pits with the American on the track.

Vowles admitted that Williams took a calculated risk in not having a spare chassis available for the opening races of the season.

“We have been very open and transparent about the fact that we pushed everything to the limit over the winter to get to where we are now in terms of competitiveness, we knew that sacrifices would have to be made,” said the Grove team's Team Principal.

“This is one of the sacrifices, it's a risk you take. The hope was not to have a serious accident in the first races of the season. And in these circumstances it didn't bear fruit.”