Williams team principal James Vowles has asked both drivers, Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto, to give it their all during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend. The statement comes amid recent crashes the team endured, which have put the Grove outfit in a tricky situation in terms of spare parts availability.
The last three races in Mexico, Brazil, and Las Vegas saw six major crashes, including three in Brazil alone. In Las Vegas, Colapinto misjudged Turn 16 in Q2 of the qualifying session, clipping the inside wall with his FW46 F1 car. The 50G impact launched him across the track into the opposite barrier, leaving the car wrecked and the driver powerless as all four tires were destroyed.
With two more races to go before the 2024 season concludes, the situation of the spare parts is critical. For example, the team has only one spare front wing available for the remaining two races, meaning both drivers must avoid crashes at all costs. However, Vowles has asked the drivers not to restrain themselves in their approach to racing, since that could also have a negative impact. Instead, he has advised them to give their best in the race weekend at the Lusail Circuit.
However, Vowles also voiced his frustration with the situation, which is a first for him in his career, as the rising costs could create a significant dent in the developmental expenditure of the 2025 car. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, as reported by RacingNews365, he said:
“It is not about holding back or restraining yourself, because that too often causes a negative effect, so they are free to give it all.
“What we’ve done to define it is free practice, is free practice, take the time to build into it.
“You saw that with Franco, but qualifying is qualifying and racing is racing, we’re here to do everything we possibly can.”
“We’re trying to contain it as much as possible so that we are not hurting next year’s programme, but when you are at those sort of numbers, it means you are not focusing on adding performance, you are just redeveloping the status quo.
“That is frustrating, in 25 years of doing this, I can’t remember anything near this bad.
“What it has done is there is an amount of cost cap we’ve had to allocate to this year which is frustrating and I wish it was going into the future, there is an amount of diversion away from focusing on getting things better.”
