BBC F1 pundit Marc Priestley saw Williams ace Alex Albon go ‘close to disaster’ again during qualifying for the 2024 Australian GP following his costly crash in first practice.
The Grove squad are down to just one car for this weekend’s meet after Albon destroyed his chassis on Friday. Williams reacted to his FP1 shunt by withdrawing Logan Sargeant from the Australian GP. Team principal James Vowles felt Albon presents their best chance for points.
Vowles rues how far behind Williams were over the winter in developing the FW46 that the team do not have a spare chassis. So, after Albon destroyed his in FP1, they reluctantly gave Sargeant’s car to the 28-year-old. And Albon repaid the decision by sealing P12 in qualifying.
Alex Albon’s FP1 crash destroyed his Williams at the Australian GP
Albon punctured a hole in his chassis, split the Williams star’s gearbox in half and damaged his engine. He also tore the front-right wheel off the FW46 with 20 minutes left in FP1 after taking too much of the exit kerb at Turn 7, unsettling the car and sending him into the wall.
The London-born Thai was helpless to avoid smashing into the wall as his car snapped upon landing in FP1. So, Albon would have given Williams a heart-in-mouth moment during Q1 as he risked another crash en route to qualifying in P12 at the Australian GP with their sole car.
Marc Priestley saw Alex Albon go ‘close to disaster’ in qualifying
Former McLaren mechanic Priestley particularly felt Albon was ‘on the limit’ during his final lap in Q1. He watched the Williams drivers’ last-gasp flyer from onboard the FW46 as Albon posted a 1:17.130. The ex-Red Bull driver’s time was good enough to finish Q1 in seventh.
“That is a great lap for Alex Albon,” Priestley said on BBC Radio 5 Live (23/3, 05:16). “He was on the limit. I was watching his lap from the onboard [camera] and thinking, ‘He’s so close to disaster again!’. But he kept it together, crossed the line and what a blistering lap.”
Albon actually posted a slower lap time with his personal-best effort in Q2 than the Williams star had achieved in Q1 during qualifying for the Australian GP. He set a 1:17.167 in Q2 for a P12 start in Sunday’s race. Albon’s Q2 lap missed out on a position in Q3 by 0.266 seconds.
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