Report: Plenty of positives for Williams Racing after Bahrain Qualifying

The season-opening Qualifying had Williams Racing lock out row 8 after a tight session where the FW45 showed plenty of promising signs for 2023.

Logan Sargeant’s first Formula One race will start from P16 alongside Alex Albon, who qualified P15, with positives for both drivers to take into tomorrow’s race.

Albono’s Q1 lap time had him sitting in the top 10 when the chequered flag waved. However, our No23 had to abandon his sole Q2 run after picking up damage, meaning he couldn’t set a time to rechallenge the top 10 positions.

It could so easily have been two FW45s in Q2 as Logan’s final push lap had him clock in a 1:31.652 — a time good enough for the second session had McLaren’s Lando Norris not recorded an identical time before our American rookie.

Sarge’s P16 means he goes into his maiden race as the top rookie from qualifying with a time good enough for Q2. Together with Alex’s top 10 Q1 time, there’s plenty to be optimistic about for Sunday’s race and the rest of the season.

Elsewhere in F3, our season began with a trophy as Williams Driver Academy newcomer Franco Colapinto drove to a superb P2 finish in the Sprint Race.

“We had some front wing damage in Qualifying, and we lost one of the flaps,” details Alex, “so we didn’t complete a lap in Q2. It’s disappointing as, looking at the times in Q2, I really believe we could have made it to Q3.” Alex did, however, see the positives from the session: “I’m a bit disappointed after being P9 in Q1 and I feel like we deserved more than where we qualified but I think if you look at where we were this time last year and where we are at this year, apart from Aston Martin, we’re the team that has made the biggest step forward.

“I’m really proud of everyone at the team and at the factory and things are going in the right direction.

“We really do come alive when the track becomes cold and I would say our race pace is stronger than our qualifying pace, so let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Logan was delighted to make his first competitive F1 outing, saying: “It's a dream come true to go out and qualify in Formula 1. We had good pace today and the team deserved to have both cars in Q2.”

Sarge knows where he lost time on track and is upbeat about his chances for the race: “A slight mistake in Sector 1 cost me as I struggled to find my brake point with the change of wind at Turn 1.

“However, we've laid a good foundation for ourselves to build off going forward. I think we had the car in a great window this evening.

“In terms of balance it was right where I wanted it, I just needed to put it together slightly better.”

There’s not much time for Logan to reflect on his first Qualifying session as a Grand Prix debut is now edging closer for the American.

“It's going to be a pretty special feeling when the lights go out tomorrow,” says Sarge, who maturely concludes, “I'll try to get off the line clean, have a good first lap and build from there.”

Dave Robson, Williams Racing Head of Vehicle Performance, assessed Bahrain Qualifying as: “A frustrating result this evening but one that shows good promise.”

Dave went on to explain both cars’ performances: “Logan was extremely unlucky not to get into Q2 having set the same lap time as Norris.

“Whilst Alex progressed to Q2 and was in a great position to set a good lap time, he had to abort his flying lap when an adjuster on his front wing failed, causing the flap to drop.

“Having completed so much running last week without an issue, it is frustrating to have it today in such an important session.”

Like the Williams Racing Drivers, Dave also sees the positives from our Saturday showing as we prepare for tomorrow’s race: “We can take a lot of positives from today as we look to translate the performance into a solid and forward-looking race plan.

“Both drivers know how to compile a strong race stint at this circuit, and everyone in Bahrain and in Grove are looking forward to helping them make good progress.”