Williams’ Albon wants to repay ‘true gentleman’ Sargeant with points،
MELBOURNE, Australia – Alex Albon admitted it felt strange qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix in Logan Sargeant's car and vowed to bring home some points for his teammate and Williams as a reward. reward.
Albon's heavy crash in Friday's free practice damaged his car's chassis and left Williams, which is without spare parts this week, with only one car capable of entering the race.
Controversially, Williams decided to give Albon the chassis of Sargeant's car, sacrificing the American driver's weekend so the Thai driver could continue.
“He's been a real gentleman, he's been a real team player through this whole situation,” Albon said of Sargeant after qualifying, where he finished 12th behind Lewis Hamilton.
“We discuss, we always discuss, we are very open as a team. I was helping him in FP2 and when the decision was made he helped me.”
He added that it was: “A different feeling, a strange feeling, if I'm honest.”
Williams' reasoning was that, despite being the one to crash out on Friday, Albon gives the team the best chance to score points if the opportunity presents itself on Sunday.
Albon has outscored Sargeant 27-1 in points since they became teammates in early 2023.
Williams is in a tight fight with the bottom five teams, all of whom are divided by a single point after the first two races.
Albon, who also turned 28 on Saturday, admitted he felt an added responsibility given the nature of the situation.
“It's one thing to make a mistake and the pressure of trying to put in a performance in qualifying, but it's another feeling when you're given responsibility, and I take that responsibility, that doesn't escape me , so yes, it's difficult. But at the same time, the only thing you can do is focus on your work, leave everything behind and treat the weekend like a normal weekend.
“We're obviously a session behind, but generally that's all I can really do, and so far we've done a good job, and we just have to keep going, and the ultimate reward for Logan would be a few points off.”
Melbourne's Albert Park has delivered unpredictable results in the past and Albon, who starts alongside Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, said there could be opportunities ahead.
“[Points] would be a nice icing on the cake, but you have to be realistic, I'm next to a Mercedes and I don't think I'll see it for very long.
“Yuki [Tsunoda] It's surprising, he's doing a really good job at RB, I think our run is going to be with him.
“Normal Australia… hopefully three red flags and an opportunity to score some points!”
Williams boss James Vowles has revealed the team will also not have a spare chassis for the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks, but Sargeant will be back in action.
Albon's chassis was returned to the Grove factory for repairs.
