Photo credits:Williams Racing
Williams was having one of their best races of the season this past Sunday in Singapore with just a few laps of the race remaining. Unfortunately, for the Grove based outfit, a collision with Sergio Perez – which saw the Mexican driver penalized – resulted in a ‘pointless’ race weekend. Team Principal of Williams, James Vowles told media post-race “Quite a few points on the table were taken away,” while his driver Alex Albon stated “Well, it should have been P8 today, I’m pretty sure.”
Not for the first time during his Williams tenure, Alex Albon drove exceptionally well in what was clearly a very tactical race. Everything was building for Williams to leave Singapore with a pleasing haul of points until a bizarre lunge into Turn 13 by Perez resulted in heavy contact to the left sidepod of Albon’s car and saw the Williams racer fall back through the pack with just a few laps remaining.
Up to that point Albon had followed the team’s plan perfectly.
Having started the race from P14 at a circuit not known for its overtaking opportunities, tyre management was obviously going to be key. As Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance, Dave Robson, said in the team’s post-race press release: “When the opportunity arose to go on the offensive using our extra set of race tyres, he [Albon] executed it perfectly on a track where overtaking is notoriously difficult.”
Albon was in no doubt as to how close he was to a fantastic finishing position under the lights in Singapore.
“Well, it should have been P8 today, I’m pretty sure,” claimed the Thai-British racer. “I mean I haven’t seen everything, I haven’t seen the videos, so maybe I could have done something differently. Obviously in the car you have a view, but maybe it’s different outside. We were running in a good position, I had a great strategy, we did expect a Safety Car to come in around that period and we saved a Medium tyre for that situation, and it paid dividends in the race.
“It was coming to us, we had a really good race coming through the pack, and then getting up to Liam [Lawson], we needed a couple of more laps to get past him most likely, but then I had contact with Checo [Perez] and that was me kind of out the race, so a bit frustrating.”
Alex Albon had been on his charge through the field as a result of pitting under the VSC on Lap 44. With a brand-new set of Mediums on his FW45 he soon found himself in the points position and had been closing in on Liam Lawson when the collision occurred. Sergio Perez received a five-second penalty for causing a collision (and a penalty point on his licence) but that did not prevent him retaining his P8 finishing position.
Williams’ Team Boss, James Vowles also reflected on the points-ending moment post-race to journalists in attendance in Singapore. His remarks showed he was far from impressed by Sergio Perez’ decision making.
“Quite a few points on the table were taken away,” Vowles stated. “It is frustrating that when you’re in a championship that’s being fought down to the point, and you’re leading against your direct rivals in this championship, to have it taken away from you hurts.
“And without good reason either. It was a lunge – there are sensible ways of overtaking and that wasn’t the way to do it. For a number of laps prior Perez was very much on the inside and trying to put his nose there. That in itself isn’t a problem, you’ve got to do aggressive techniques. But Alex had already committed to the turn-in point. And it’s overlapping at the back and it was contact into the sidepod. There was no way that was going to work.
“So, it’s incredibly frustrating. You are into fine, fine margins. And this could be what decides the championship positions.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, Logan Sargeant was doing his chance of retaining a seat with Williams no harm as he was matching the performance of his more experienced teammate and was doing so while running the older specification front wing. This was until the American rookie lost that front wing following a small front lock-up towards the end of his first stint which saw inevitable contact with the barrier at Turn 8 after he understeered. The damage just 20 laps into the race unsurprisingly affected car performance and he would eventually come home P18. Sargeant is no doubt grateful that another race is so close on the calendar with a trip to Suzuka just a few days away.
“One mistake was very costly today. I feel like the car was in a good place. I’m proud of those last two stints. I never gave up and did everything in my power to close back in and make something happen, but I could’ve used one more Safety Car. It wasn’t a bad race in terms of pace and throughout the whole weekend. I need to cut out those small mistakes as it’s such small margins,” Logan Sargeant reflected.
All in all, this was a missed opportunity for Williams but through no fault of their own. They are still P7 in this year’s F1 Constructors’ Championship and their car is performing well. Confidence in the team must be high after having run so well on a circuit that did not suit their car on paper. On top of this, Alex Albon is in superb form. As such, we shouldn’t be surprised if we see the team leave the Land of the Rising Sun with the points that were taken from them, so dramatically, this past weekend under the lights in Singapore.
