Las Vegas GP: Williams Racing struggles with tyre graining
By Williams Racing
November 19 2023
Coming off the excitement of seeing their cars start the 2023 Las Vegas GP from 5th and 6th the race itself would see the team come away disappointed after seeing both cars fail to score points. Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant would finish the race in 12th and 16th with both drivers struggling to manage tyre graining on their cars. Both drivers woud also suffer from the timing of a second Safety Car. Despite the frustrations of the race the teams main championship rivals fared no better with Williams retaining 7th in the championship. Next stop is the final race of the 2023 season in Abu Dhabi.
|
|
|
Williams Racing
Las Vegas GP
Race Review |
| |
 |
| |
|
Logan Sargeant:
"Honestly, I don’t think there’s a lot we did wrong today. As a
team we came around 5th & 6th after the first lap which was the goal. I
felt like we managed that first stint relatively well but as expected
the quicker cars started to come through towards the end of it. We went
with our strategy and boxed for the Hard tyre with the plan to take us
to the end. I don’t think we were in a bad position until that second
Safety Car came out and it killed any chance we had. We didn’t really
have any option to come in and fit a new set. Others did which put them
at an advantage, but we tried to hold on until the end. As a weekend, we
maximised our plan and executed well it was just a bit of bad fortune
today." |
| |
 |
Alex Albon:
"I suffered quite badly from graining today; it was difficult for
us and the Safety Car didn’t help with most getting a pitstop with
little consequence. It’s one of those races that we’ll need to review
after as I thought we were managing quite well but after the Safety Car
in the middle of the race, I was racing everyone on old tyres. I could
just about manage my own race, but I had to push a bit more and it
creates this cycle which is difficult to manage. There are some
positives to take from this weekend, so it’s not all bad but obviously a
bit frustrating to walk away without points. We’ll continue this fight
for P7 to the very end." |
| |
|
 |
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"Disappointing
not to score some points today but we weren’t quite able to manage the
tyre graining well enough on the Hard tyre. Had we been able to control
that graining a little better, then Alex could’ve had a final stint
closer to that of Ocon, and a points finish would’ve been possible. The
margins were fine today, and we didn’t quite get it right. Fortunately,
we were still able to lead the pack of teams competing for 7th place in
the Championship and so we preserve our advantage heading into Abu
Dhabi.
Racing in Las Vegas has been a new and exciting challenge that has
pushed the team, drivers and cars to new limits. We dealt with many
things very well this weekend but couldn’t quite put it all together
today." |
| |
|
 |
| |
 |
| |
|
Track: Las Vegas, USA Lap |
Length: 6.201km |
|
|
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Time/Gap (Fastest Lap) |
Grid |
|
12 |
A ALBON |
Williams Racing |
+43.398s (1:37.357) |
5 |
|
16 |
L SARGEANT |
Williams Racing |
+50.882s (1:37.740) |
6 |
|
|
Bookmark or share this story with: