Alexander Albon heavily crashed during FP1, and his FW46 was damaged in many areas. Williams does not have a third chassis in Melbourne, and should the team not be able to repair it, the risk is that only one car will compete on Sunday.
The team principal James Vowles shared that, due to the crash, the car has a damaged engine, the gearbox is split in two and the chassis is damaged as well.
Vowles also confirmed that there could be the possibility for Williams to let Albon race with Logan Sargeant’s car if the Thai driver’s one cannot be repaired.
“It was a fairly big accident,” Vowles told Motorsport.com. “The engine is damaged, the gearbox is split in two, and the chassis is damaged.
“It’s the worst you could have ever had. We do not have a third chassis here, that’s correct. So now it’s just whether we can repair this one.
“We have repair kits, fundamentally of those I’m not yet sure, because it’s a very serious accident and with what happened on the front [right] corner.”
Vowles admitted that being able to score even one single point in Melbourne could make a huge difference in the championship. Therefore, Williams must make the most out of every situation.
“One point here will make the difference between sixth and 10th potentially in the championship, simple as that.
“It just depends. I want to see how FP2 is, I want to see how the car performs. I want to see what options we have available to us on the chassis here as well.”