Azerbaijan GP: Frustrating race for Williams Racing
By Williams Racing
May 1 2023
The results of the 2023 Azerbaijan GP would see the Williams Racing Team again come away with another frustrating race where neither driver would secure points. Alex Albon would have a tough race running with a car that had suffered a damaged front wing on the first lap but despite this he still had a positive race but did lack that performance that would allow him to move forward. For Logan Sargeant his race would come off not been able to run in the Sprint due to his damaged car and would ultimately have a lonely uneventful race. Despite the lack of points it was still a race where the team came away with the feeling that they were still moving forward.
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Williams Racing
Azerbaijan GP
Race Review |
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Logan Sargeant:
"All things considered I learned a lot this weekend. In the race today,
we got a bit unlucky with the safety car timing at the start and fell
into a bit of a lonely, frustrating race. I was stuck behind Zhou
[Guanyu} for most of it. By the time he pitted it was just too late and
I was too far disconnected from the pack ahead. However, when I did get
in front, the car felt good, I was driving well, and the pace was not
too bad at the end. I brought a set of hard tyres a long way and that’s
all positive. Our one lap pace this weekend was good, and I was happy
considering we only had one free practice session to go into qualifying
and have a pretty good one. It was going to be an even better Sprint
Shootout until the crash, so I’ll learn from that and move forward. The
race wasn’t bad, it just fell out of our hands and was a lonely, boring
one for most people." |
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Alex Albon:
"It was really tough out there today. I had some damage on my front
wing for most of the race following contact with the McLaren, so there
was a lot of management to do. It was tricky trying to keep the Haas
behind me whilst staying close to Oscar, and not a lot of room for
overtaking with the shortened DRS zones. We really did maximise this
weekend and I think it was personally one of my strongest, especially
coming off Australia. I think we definitely have more to find with the
car, but I think I’m becoming at one with it, so hopefully we can keep
this going." |
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Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"Alex
suffered some front wing damage on the opening lap, which hurt the car
balance and cost him downforce. Despite this he was able to put together
another very strong race; he dealt with the pressure from Gasly and
Magnussen brilliantly whilst also staying close to Piastri ahead. The
timing of the early safety car was unfortunate for our strategy, but
that is the nature of racing at Baku.
Having missed the sprint race yesterday, Logan started the Grand Prix
somewhat on the back foot but still put together a strong drive to fight
with Zhou and Gasly. His pace and car management were competitive and
gave him some very valuable learning for the future.
We arrived in Baku for this new style sprint event expecting it to be a
challenge. Although we rose to that challenge well and were able to put
together a strong performance overall, it is frustrating not to get some
points for our effort. Nonetheless, we head to Miami with some positive
momentum and another good opportunity to challenge the top 10." |
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Track: Baku City Circuit,
Azerbaijan Lap |
Length: 6.003 km |
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12 |
A ALBON |
Williams Racing |
88.623 (1:45.925) |
12 |
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16 |
L SARGEANT |
Williams Racing |
100.943 (1:46.501) |
14 |
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