Las Vegas GP: Stunning qualifying from Williams Racing
By Williams Racing
November 18 2023
After a promising final practice session the Williams Racing Team would go into qualifying with the promise of a good result. But the results were so amazing with both drivers making it into Q3 with Alex Albon finishing 6th and Logan Sargeant 7th. It was such a stunning performance from both the drivers and the team with the FW45 deivering on the anticipated performance. With other driver penalties Alex and Logan will start from 5th and 6th in the Grand Prix. As to the expectations for the race it will in large part come down to how the team deals with the graining that has been a problem across all the teams. Regardless it will certainly be a massive opportunity for both drivers and team.
Williams Racing
Las Vegas GP Qualifying Review
Logan Sargeant:
"Today felt really good from FP3 onwards. I’m very happy to execute
over three separate sessions and finally extract the potential that
we’ve had. To do it here in Vegas is extra special which is highlighted
by the fact we have a great car here. It’s not easy to deliver on that
performance, so the fact we’re able to continuously do that throughout
the session is awesome. It’s been a great day for the team and congrats
to everyone. We’ve worked hard and knew this weekend was a good
opportunity and we’re off to the right start. Most importantly we have
two cars near the front of the grid. We have a very annoying car down
the straights for others, so we’ll try and use that to our advantage.
Hopefully we can continue this level of performance and have a strong
race."
Alex Albon:
"We executed very well today; we’ve known this track was going to suit
us but it’s always a bit scary coming in when there’s a bit of hype and
pressure, so I’m really happy with how that went. I’ve been struggling
with the brakes all weekend and after my off in FP3, I had to reset my
confidence a little bit. I also just want to say thanks again to the
team for their hard work in getting the car ready for Qualifying.
Tomorrow is going to be all about the graining, with cars that suffer
probably going a second and a half slower, and vulnerable to anyone
overtaking. We did have some graining on Friday, but we’ve made some
setup changes that should hopefully help mitigate this. I’m obviously
excited for Logan as well, so to be starting P5 and P6 due to penalties,
we now just need to finish it off tomorrow."
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"We had an excellent result today with both drivers completing a
brilliant qualifying session. The car was working well and both drivers
were able to make the most of that to get into Q3 and qualify in very
strong positions for the Grand Prix.
Q1 was a little closer than we had anticipated, with the decision to get
Alex into Q2 using only a single set of Soft tyres becoming riskier than
we had expected. However, he held his nerve and completed a good final
lap on tyres that were past their best. Logan used a 2nd set in Q1 and
qualified more comfortably. Both eased through Q2 and put themselves in
a great position to push hard in Q3.
Following Alex touching the wall in FP3, the team had to work extremely
hard to get his car ready for Q1, but they tackled the work very well
and gave him a great car that he could take into Qualifying with
confidence. The result is a fair reward for the continued dedication and
efforts of the team in Las Vegas and in Grove; supporting this race from
the UK is as demanding as dealing with jetlag and the team there have
supported the trackside team expertly throughout this week.
Today has been good, but the result needs to be secured tomorrow, and we
now need to convert the single lap pace into solid race pace. The work
we did overnight should help improve the tyre management, which should
give us a good opportunity to fight for good point scoring positions
with both cars."
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