Chinese Grand Prix: Tough Sprint qualifying for Williams


By Williams Racing
April 19 2024

After just a single practice session the Williams Racing Team would go into the Sprint qualifying but the results of the session were hardly what the team was hoping for. Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant would finish in 18th and 20th after what could only be described as a tough session with both drivers complaining about a lack of grip from the medium tyre. The Sprint Saturday morning has now very much become a race where the team hopes to learn and be able to improve the setup for the race qualifying and the race itself.

 
 Williams Racing Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying
Sargeant
 
Sargeant 
 

Logan Sargeant:
"Mixed feelings today, as like Japan, I feel like I did a decent job but unfortunately that’s placed me at the back of the grid. I felt like there’s a little bit more in the car but I’m sure everyone else can say the same. The track was extremely slippery today with low grip which made it difficult. We have our homework to do overnight. The good thing is Parc Fermé opens again after the Sprint race to allow us to change some things. We’ll use the Sprint to pick up the learnings for the race on Sunday and, of course, figure out what we can do better in Qualifying tomorrow."

Albon

Alex Albon:
"Tough session today. We were the first cars out, so the track was still very green, which damaged the tyres. We tried to go for a second lap at the end of SQ1 but the tyres were gone and we didn’t have the grip. I don’t know if SQ2 was a possibility today, but I think there was potential to be in a better position than we are. We’ll treat the Sprint race as a session to learn more about the car ahead of Qualifying."

Robson
 

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:
"Today was tough and we struggled in both sessions to generate good grip on the Medium tyre. The light rain between the sessions didn’t help and made the conditions at the start of the Qualifying session quite tricky.

We will use the Sprint race session tomorrow to help prepare for the Grand Prix and use the opportunity before tomorrow’s Qualifying session to make some setup changes."

Albon
 
Sargeant
 

Track: Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai  

Lap Length: 5.451 km
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
18 A Albon Williams Racing 1:37.812  - -
20 L Sargeant Williams Racing 1:37.923 - -
 
Albon
 

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