Photo credit: Williams Racing
Williams drivers Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant struggled at the Miami Grand Prix, with Albon—who has scored Williams’ only point of 2023 so far—failing to convert a strong qualifying into points and Sargeant mired in the back at his home race in Florida.
Albon’s race was particularly frustrating; having missed out on Q3 by just 0.052 seconds, he was unable to convert an almost-top-ten start into a top-ten finish, finishing 14th, and his frustration came out over the radio when he was asked to look after his tyres.
“I think at the time I got told to manage the tyres, we weren’t catching the cars in front. So it was either try and not manage and try and catch the cars and overtake them, or just stay at the back. I’d rather be aggressive and then suffer the consequences later than never try and just finish last. So that was why I think I said I don’t really agree with it.”
Sargeant started 20th and finished 20th, his race almost over from the start after damaging his front wing in the first couple laps. The team put him on the hard compound, which carried through to the end, but he was unable to gain any advantage.
“I think 54 laps or whatever it was on the hard tyre, that last stint was not too bad. We were a bit conservative with the balance at the start so I just sort of persevered with that throughout that entire stint.”
With both cars outside the points, Albon conceded that, with tyre wear being such a strong factor in the race, this was a weak track for their car and exposed the team’s lack of performance.
“I do think we’re the ninth or 10th slowest car, that’s the reality of it. We’re just getting the most out of it most weekends, and on a track where the tires do get hot there is deg, and it exposes our weaknesses[….] Hopefully, we can go to another circuit that suits us a little bit more.
