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.

 
  Williams Racing Azerbaijan GP Race Review
 
Sargeant
 
Sargeant 

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."

 
Albon

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."

Robson

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."

 

Albon

 
Sargeant
 

Track: Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan Lap  

Length: 6.003 km
12 A ALBON Williams Racing 88.623 (1:45.925) 12
16 L SARGEANT Williams Racing 100.943 (1:46.501) 14
 
Albon
 

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