Williams releases crucial chassis update after controversial Logan Sargeant decision: PlanetF1

James Vowles is confident Logan Sargeant will be on the grid in Japan and reveals Williams is in a “good place” to repair Alex Albon’s chassis in time for the race weekend.

Although it was Albon who suffered a heavy crash in Australian Grand Prix practice, it was Sargeant who was unable to continue the race weekend when Vowles made the controversial decision to hand over his chassis to his teammate.

Williams hopes to have “two cars” on the Suzuka grid

Albon’s bypass had not only damaged all four corners of his FW46, but had also punched a finger-sized hole in the cabin.

Short on spare parts, Williams did not have a third chassis available for the Thai-British driver and Sargeant paid the price.

The good news for the American is that his team boss believes they will have Albon’s car ready in time for the next race weekend, which begins on April 5 in Japan.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to fix the chassis,” Vowles said in a video posted on social media.

“We took steps to make sure the chassis got back here very early on Monday morning. I think it arrived around 2am or so.

“Since then, the entire team inside the building has been working on it, dismantling it and making repairs.

“Just an update today, we are in a good position to have the chassis back soon enough for Suzuka.”

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The former Mercedes strategy director revealed that Williams had already started preliminary work on Albon’s chassis before even leaving Melbourne.

“A lot of work went into Melbourne,” he continued.

“There were photographs and techniques called NDT, which are Non-Destructive Testing. There are several things you can do there, but it allows us to fully understand how big the damage is and what we need to do.

“That preparation was key.

“This meant that work could start at two in the morning on Monday. So it wasn’t a reflection on what was happening, it was more, this is what we are doing and this is how we execute it.

“So at Suzuka we will have two cars without too many problems.”

Williams, however, will go to the Japanese GP without a spare chassis available, opening the door for a repeat situation.

Handing over Sargeant’s car to Albon on Saturday of the Australian Grand Prix, Vowles insisted he “wouldn’t have made” the decision if he didn’t think it was worth it.

“The important thing for me right now is even the possibility of scoring a point,” he added. “I have difficult decisions to make and mine is for the well-being of this organization as a whole. And I will do everything necessary to get the point if it is available to us.”

Unfortunately, Albon came up short in 11th place as the driver’s efforts were hampered by severe tire wear.

Williams, who has yet to score a point this season, is eighth on the log, ahead of Stake and Alpine.

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