Alex Albon has admitted that he is concerned with one issue at Williams which ‘cost’ teammate Logan Sargeant heavily at the Monaco GP after finishing it two laps down.
The Grove squad scored their first points of the season on the streets of the Principality last week. But while Albon finished the Monaco GP in P9 after qualifying inside the top 10, their joy was tempered slightly by Sargeant settling for 15th place among the 16 drivers to finish.
Sargeant was also one of the six drivers Charles Leclerc lapped twice in the Ferrari pilot’s road to home glory. The Monegasque also lapped Albon once while the 28-year-old cruised home between Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly to gift Williams their first two points this year.
Williams ‘cost’ Logan Sargeant at the Monaco GP without their upgraded rear wing
Albon’s Q3 appearance at the Monaco GP was even his and Williams’ first time in the top 10 shoot-out this year. Sargeant, on the other hand, exited qualifying in Q1 having set the 17th-fastest lap. But Albon feels the 23-year-old may have made Q2 if they had equal machinery.
Williams only gave Albon their upgraded rear wing in Monte Carlo as they continue to battle back from frequent setbacks. The Grove squad had to delay their planned upgrades to focus on building a spare chassis due to Albon damaging his in a heavy crash at the Australian GP.
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It took Williams until the Miami GP in round six to deliver a spare chassis, and also withdrew Sargeant from the Australian GP to give Albon their only undamaged chassis. But Albon still feels like Sargeant is at a disadvantage with Williams still unable to offer him their upgrades.
“Obviously, it cost him,” Albon said, via quotes by Motorsport Week. “It would have made a difference. I don’t know how far off he was from Q2 but it wouldn’t have been much.”
Albon also added after learning that Sargeant was only 0.133 seconds away from making Q2 at the Monaco GP: “Yeah, so he would have been most likely in Q2.”
Alex Albon is concerned that Logan Sargeant does not have the same parts
Williams are still working to get enough parts ready to afford Sargeant their latest upgrades. But the American will likely have to wait for the Spanish GP from June 21-23 to enjoy parity on parts with Albon, who also concedes Sargeant is unlikely to get them at the Canadian GP.
“Yeah, it is [a concern],” Albon added regarding Sergeant running an alternative set-up. “It’s something that we want. The good thing is we will have one ready for Barcelona.”
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Sargeant ended qualifying for the 2024 Monaco GP with a 0.133s deficit to Esteban Ocon of Alpine. But a margin of only 0.001s to Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso would have still denied the Fort Lauderdale native a Q2 appearance had just one more driver lapped slower.
One factor that serves to heighten Albon and Williams’ frustrations that Sargeant did not get into Q2 was that the stewards disqualified Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg from qualifying. They both made Q2 but Haas failed to ensure their new rear wing was legal.
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