Japanese GP: Qualifying a mixed session for Williams Racing
By Williams Racing
September 23 2023
Qualifying for the 2023 Japanese GP would see the Williams Racing Team come away with a very mixed set of results. For Alex Albon he would finish in 13th missing out on the top ten by the smallest of margins. But for Logan Sargeant his session would end with his car damaged after crashing into the barrier at the final corner before the main stratight. Logan had run wide and gone onto the grass and then into the barrier where his car would be badly damaged. Thankfully the team feels his car will be ready for Sunday's race. As for the prospects for the race it is all going to come down to startegy as one thing of note at the Suzuka track has been the significant tyre degradation being suffered across all teams. Points are a possibility but it will all come down to how the team manages this.
|
|
|
Williams Racing
Japanese GP Qualifying Review |
| |
 |
| |
|
Logan Sargeant:
"It’s been a good day until the incident. It was going well, and we
had the car in a good window. I’ve just been struggling with rear
overheating in the last sector. I lost the rear on exit; maybe a bit too
aggressive on power with the tailwind as well. The grass creeps up on
you quickly as it’s coming back towards you. Unfortunately, once I
touched the grass there was nothing I could do. It’s disappointing and
not what I wanted. I know the team have a big job on their hands to
repair my car for tomorrow and I really appreciate all their hard work
and effort. I’ll put this behind me and focus on the race tomorrow." |
| |

|
Alex Albon:
"If this track was ten degrees cooler, I think we would have been
in Q3. But it’s been a tough weekend and we’ve been on the back foot, so
to come out P13 I think is the most we could get out of qualifying.
Coming into this weekend, we expected to be a bit further up but,
considering how Friday went and how fine the margins are out there, it’s
a good achievement and I was happy with my Quali lap. There’s massive
deg, the tarmac is very rough and we have the heat, so it’s going to be
a long tricky race tomorrow. The key will be tyre management and control
from everyone. It’s very tight out there." |
| |

|
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"A mixed day for us. We tried some different directions in FP3, and this
didn’t work out as we had hoped. Changes were made for qualifying and as
a result we were in a much better position. Unfortunately, Logan lost
his car at the exit of the final corner, clipping the grass and ending
in the wall. At this circuit, a minor mistake in that corner has big
consequences and we now must rebuild a whole car for Logan. The team
will approach this with their usual skill and enthusiasm, and he should
be ready to race tomorrow.
Alex had a good qualifying session and quickly got accustomed to the
changes made to his car after FP3. At the end of Q1 he produced another
very strong lap in pressured circumstances. This was reminiscent of his
Q1 performance in Silverstone and is testament to his mental strength
and driving abilities. He put in a very strong lap on a quiet track in
Q2; his pace in the first two sectors was extremely good but he lost a
little bit in the final chicane. To finish within 30ms of 11th place is
a little frustrating, but those are the fine margins that we are dealing
with. We have a good selection of new tyres available for the race
tomorrow and will be looking to make progress into the top 10 during the
Grand Prix." |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
|
Track: Suzuka International
Racing Course, Japan |
Lap Length: 5.807km |
|
|
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
|
13 |
A Albon |
Williams Racing |
1:30.941 |
1:30.537 |
- |
|
DNF |
L Sargeant |
Williams Racing |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
Bookmark or share this story with: