Anyone who stayed up past dawn and followed the events of the first free practice session could have seen Alexander Albon lose his Williams on a rock and then crash it badly.
At that time, it was not yet known how serious the problem was, but after a few hours the situation became clear. The frame of Albon's car was damaged to such an extent that it could no longer be repaired on site due to the lack of spare parts, so they had to make a difficult decision to save what could be saved:
“Following Alex Albon’s crash in the first free practice session, we can confirm that due to the extensive damage, this chassis will no longer be used for the remainder of the weekend. It will be returned to HQ for repairs and, as no replacement chassis is available, the team has decided that Alex will be given the opportunity to race with the chassis used by Logan Sargeant. It is with a heavy heart that we have made this decision, but in the tightest midfield battle ever, every race and every opportunity to score points counts. We cannot thank Logan enough for taking it all in stride and once again demonstrating his commitment to the team,” Williams Racing said in a statement.
