Report: P7 secured in Abu Dhabi

We have secured our best Constructors’ Championship result for six years, despite not having the race we were quite hoping for at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Both Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant had a clean getaway, but our Thai racer had slipped to P17 by the end of the final tour.

Our duo had made their first stops by the end of Lap 16, switching for the medium to hard compound and were now running P19 and P20, setting their sights up the order.

Albono sent it around the outside of Zhou Guanyu at T9 on Lap 27 to climb to P17 as other drivers began their second round of pit stops.

The AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo had been forced into a very early stop, so after making his second visit to pit lane, found himself behind Logan.

Our American racer put up an astute defence on the Australian, keeping him behind for three laps and hampering his progress back through the field.

By the 44th lap, both of our drivers had been serviced for a second time, once again bolting on the hard tyres, and returned to running in P17 and P20.

Three laps later, Alex completed another lovely move on Zhou before Logan passed Kevin Magnussen on the very next tour.

Our pair kept climbing, with our No23 sending it past Nico Hulkenberg on Lap 50 before Sarge overtook Valtteri Bottas on Lap 51.

Carlos Sainz made his mandatory stop with two laps and Logan gained another spot, displacing Zhou for P16 whilst Alex crossed the line in P14.

With both cars out of the points, we were largely powerless to stop AlphaTauri from picking up points. Yuki Tsunoda ultimately came home in P8, with Ricciardo out of the points by 0.5s thanks in part to Logan’s earlier defensive effort.

All this meant Williams Racing secured P7 in the Constructors’ Championship, with a three-point margin to P8 – Just 97 days until we get to do it all over again…

“My race was okay; I don’t think it was the best following a bad start, but we seemed to recover for the second and third stint,” Alex shared after the chequered flag.

“Unfortunately, Yuki [Tsunoda] was too fast for us to have any involvement in his race, however, it’s been the hard work across the year that’s allowed us to seal P7 in the Constructors’ Championship.

“Congratulations to the team, including everyone at track and back at the factory. Looking at the progress we’ve made, it’s a great achievement. I’m also very proud of my performance, so I’ll give myself credit for what has been my strongest year in Formula 1.

“The connection I have with the team has allowed us to execute the season well, even when we’ve been fighting race after race to hold our positions.

“Looking to next year, we’ve got a challenge ahead of us but I’m already excited for what’s to come.”

Logan continued our reaction from the Yas Marina Circuit by saying: “Firstly, congratulations to the entire team at track and back at Grove for claiming P7 in the Constructors’ Championship.

“Everyone has worked incredibly hard all year round to earn this achievement.

“I was unfortunate not to get a position or two off the start. Other than that, we missed a bit of pace.

“Purposely we didn’t optimise strategy to try and hold back Daniel [Ricciardo] as long as we could.

“I was proud of the defence I put up against him for a few laps to contribute to helping the team today.

“I enjoyed the end on fresh Hard tyres, coming back through the field doing Quali lap after Quali lap.

“From a personal point of view, it’s been another strong weekend. Obviously yesterday was unfortunate with the track limits but once again I’ve had the pace of what the car was capable of and I’m proud of that.

“There’s been tough times and good times during my rookie season. This back half of this season I’ve really found some momentum.

“My race pace has been on a very upward trajectory and Qualifying pace is starting to come together.

“I’m proud of the resilience I’ve had all year, I’ve never given in. I kept pushing and improving and I couldn’t have spent this season with a better group of people.”

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance, had his eyes across a variety of screens this evening, and concluded our reaction by stating: “The race was difficult today, especially after Alex suffered a poor start and lost five places immediately.

“Fortunately, he was able to recover and complete a strong strategy, showing good pace on the Hard compound.

“Logan followed a similar strategy and was able to fight with Daniel [Ricciardo] before pitting and finishing strong with a series of good overtakes.

“We weren’t able to race directly with AlphaTauri today but given that we haven’t updated the car since mid-season, the fact that we have kept them at bay over the last eight races is testament to us scoring well when the car was competitive, and we continued to compete during the flyaway events even as they brought upgrades to their car.

“It is always difficult to defend a lead and allow yourself to be out developed by rivals, but this was a conscious decision that will reap reward over the coming years.

“The fact that we were able to hold 7th place in the Constructors’ Championship is down to the continued hard work and attention to detail from the whole team, both at the track and throughout the entire Company back in Grove.

“Today itself was not spectacular but as the culmination of a strong season, it marks a clear upturn in our performance and lays the foundations for the coming years.

“We now look forward to the final day of testing on Tuesday. Alex and Logan will share one car with Franco and Zak splitting the day in the other car.

“The trackside team will then take a well-earned rest before we complete the preparations for the Bahrain test and the launch of FW46.”