Williams pair clear for Japan, says Vowles
Williams expects to field two cars at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, after repairing the chassis shunted by Alex Albon in free practice at the recent Australian GP. Albon’s spill down under moved the team to bench slower driver Logan Sargeant in a bid to maximise its chances of scoring points, with production delays over the winter leading Williams to gamble on not building up a spare tub.
After Albon’s Friday crash, the wreckage arrived back at the Grove factory in the small hours of Monday morning last week and was inspected, stripped and repaired. “We’re in a good place for having the chassis back early enough for Suzuka,” said team principal James Vowles.
“Actually, back in Melbourne, there were photographs and techniques called NDT, which is non-destructive testing. It allows us to fully understand how big the damage is, and what we have to do. That preparation was key. What it meant was already at 0200 on Monday, work could start. So, in Suzuka, we’ll have two cars without too many issues.”
Williams still won’t have a spare chassis for Japan and, with resources diverted to the repair effort, that third car will likely be delayed beyond the Chinese GP at the end of this month. “The original plan for the season start was to have three chassis as you would expect at round one,” Vowles continued. “That gently slipped toward round three as items became more and more delayed and since then, especially with the work that we’re doing now on chassis number two, there is again going to be a small amount of delay. It’s thousands of hours spent in composites in order to get it ready…
“We will have a chassis soon. In the meantime, we have to deal with the circumstances we have in front of us.”