Emilia Romagna GP: Compromised Friday for Williams Racing


By Williams Racing
May 18 2024

In a day that saw the Willliams Racing Team suffer from various issues across both Friday sessions the team would see Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant finish in 18th and 20th. For Alex he would have a technical issue that would see his running limited in FP1 and at the start of FP2 both he and Logan Sargeant would see their session hindred by the sight of both cars in the teams garage with their floors removed after the session had started. Once they were able to take to the track they would finish well down the order despite both drivers feeling that their cars were handling well. The team has a lot of work to do overnight to improve the FW46's issues.

 
 Williams Racing Emilia Romagna Grand Prix Friday Practice
Sargeant
 

Sargeant 

Logan Sargeant:
"For sure FP2 was quite heavily compromised; we only got a couple of laps on low fuel, on which we had a little trouble getting the tyre working, so that’s the main topic to focus on. The balance of the car is in a good place but we’re not getting everything working as it should around it, so we need to figure that out. I’m really enjoying the track, it’s really cool and it’s on the edge. Tomorrow will be tricky, but we’ll do our best to get everything out of it."

Albon 
 

Alex Albon:
"We’re obviously a little behind on track time today after the electrical issue I suffered in FP1. It took a while to find the issue and then fix it, however the team did a great job to get the car back out. It’s a difficult one because the car actually felt amazing out there; I don’t know whether it’s the track or the wind, but I feel like the car is on rails yet I’m P18, so we’ve got some work to do. Despite this, I’m enjoying it and it’s nice to come to a proper track. It’s not going to be easy but I’m happy with our progress so hopefully we can unlock some more."

 

Smeets

Sven Smeets Sporting Director:
"
The day didn’t start well with Alex stopping early in FP1 and missing valuable track time. The team did a great job to get the car ready again, but we only managed to finish a compromised run plan with Alex. Unfortunately Logan also lost a lot of running time in FP2 and only had 1 lap on the Soft tyre. We have a lot of fine tuning to do before Qualifying tomorrow but both drivers are confident that we will have a competitive package to start Qualifying. There is still a small chance for some showers during the race so Sunday could become a day with lots of opportunities."

 
Albon
 
Sargeant
 
Practice Classification
 
Driver   FP1 FP2
A. Albon   1:20.050 (19th) 1:17.135 (18th)
L Sargeant   1:19.901 (18th) 1:17.848 (20th)
Albon