Williams ace Alex Albon was left fuming at his race engineer James Urwin during the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix after receiving a vexing five-word reply on the team’s radio.
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was a disappointing hunting ground for the Grove squad on Sunday. Williams finished the Spanish GP with Albon crossing the line for P18 and Logan Sargeant running in last place. Yuki Tsunoda of Visa Cash App RB joined the pair at the back.
Albon struggled to make progress through the Spanish GP after Williams decided to start the 28-year-old from the pit lane. Qualifying also proved to be a difficult day at the office for the team. Albon and Sargeant both bowed out in Q1 and by locking out the final row of the grid.
James Urwin irked Alex Albon with his abrupt radio message in the Spanish GP
Williams elected to utilise Albon qualifying P19 for the Spanish GP to fit his third battery and electronics control unit against parc fermé regulations. Sargeant qualifying in P20 also made a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lance Stroll of Aston Martin in qualifying irrelevant.
But while Williams were racing at the wrong end of the field throughout Sunday, Albon kept pushing. Yet, amidst his quest to maintain a gap over Tsunoda, the London-born Thai took a trip through the gravel at Turn 4. He suffered an unusual snap of oversteer on corner entry.
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Albon wrestled with his steering wheel to try and regain control of his FW46 to no avail. The off let Tsunoda slash the deficit the Japanese gem faced to his rival. But Urwin’s reply on the team’s radio enraged Albon after questioning why Williams’ car surprisedly snapped on him.
“What the hell was that?” Albon questioned over the Williams team radio. To which, Urwin replied: “All ok from our side.”
But Albon took issue with Urwin’s response, adding: “No, it’s not ok. Don’t just say that within five seconds.”
James Urwin has been Alex Albon’s race engineer since he joined Williams
Urwin is an experienced engineer in Formula 1 and joined Williams back in 2014 initially as a performance engineer. He later secured a promotion to the role of race engineer in Grove in 2017 to work with Stroll. Urwin has since worked with George Russell and Albon at Williams.
The Spanish GP marked Albon’s 54th race with Williams, and with Urwin in his ears. So their little spat will get brushed under the carpet as attention goes to the Austrian GP and British GP. Albon only took P16 in the 2023 Spanish GP but got P11 in Austria and P8 at Silverstone.
The post ‘Don’t just say that’: Alex Albon fumes at Williams after vexing five-word radio message in Spanish GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.