Albon admits Williams will have to be ‘sensible’ at upcoming races amid chassis shortage

Alex Albon has conceded that Williams will need to be “quite sensible” in their approach to the next handful of races as he and team mate Logan Sargeant continue to drive without a spare chassis.

Williams were forced to compete with just one car during qualifying and the race in Australia due to Albon’s crash in first practice writing off a chassis and the team not having a spare available at the trackside.

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After determining that the damaged chassis needed to be sent back to the factory for repairs, Williams made the decision to put Albon in Sargeant’s car for the remainder of the weekend – narrowly missing out on their target to score points.

Asked for his thoughts on the situation after coming home 11th at Albert Park, and the hope that Williams will be a two-car operation again at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Albon outlined the challenge ahead.

“I think we’re still going to have to be quite sensible with how we’re driving for the next few races,” he told Sky Sports F1. “We need to see when this third car is going to be ready. For now, obviously, I’ll go back to my repaired one and give Logan back his car.”

Williams team boss James Vowles stated in his post-Australia debrief that the squad should be able to run two cars “without too many issues” at Suzuka, while expressing optimism over a third chassis being ready “soon”.

READ MORE: Vowles provides chassis repair update as he assesses chances of Williams competing with two cars in Japan

“I’m confident we’ll be able to fix the chassis,” said Vowles. “We put measures in place to make sure the chassis was back here very early on Monday morning [after the race] – I think it arrived at around 2am or so.

“Since then there were already crews inside the building working on that, stripping it down and doing repairs. We’re in a good place for having the chassis back early enough for Suzuka.”

Chassis repairs aside, Albon paid tribute to team mate Sargeant for the professionalism and support he showed while sitting out the Melbourne weekend amid the swap of cars.

READ MORE: Vowles insists he still ‘believes’ in Sargeant as he reveals American’s reaction after handing car to Albon

“I said it all along, he’s been a trooper in it all,” said Albon. “I wouldn’t like to be in his shoes, that’s for sure. It’s a team effort and we took a decision to try to score some points. Obviously we were close to getting it.”

Williams are one of three teams, along with Kick Sauber and Alpine, yet to score a point this season, with Albon’s P11 finishes in Saudi Arabia and Australia putting them eighth in the constructors’ standings.