Report: Close to points in Baku Sprint

F1’s first Sprint weekend of 2023 had reasons to cheer for Williams Racing as Alex Albon spent his Saturday in the top 10 for both the all-new Shootout and the 17-lap Sprint race.

A P7 Shootout performance preceded a P9 Sprint finish for Albono, who narrowly missed out on points as the FW45 showed what it could do on Baku’s streets.

Unfortunately for Logan Sargeant, damage in Shootout’s first session meant our American rookie couldn’t start the Sprint, despite the pit crew’s best efforts to repair his car.

Still, Sarge can find encouragement from having the pace to make the second qualifying session for two consecutive days after reaching Q2 yesterday and SQ2 today.

Alex and Logan now turn their attention to tomorrow’s Grand Prix, knowing that points are possible at the Baku City Circuit.

“It was a great race for us, but we just don’t have the pace compared to them, so unfortunately no reward for today and we’ll shift our focus to tomorrow.

“It’s frustrating to be sitting out of the points in the sprint when P9 in a normal race would mean points and be an excellent result for us.”

Despite not quite making points this time around, Alex ends on a positive note:

“We were the best of the rest today, so we can take some happiness from that and know it’s now our job to get closer to the top four.”

For Logan, his Saturday in Baku didn’t have a lot of running. Our American reflects:

“That is our first sprint day of the season done. Clearly it didn’t go the way we wanted it to go, but I think there were some good positives to the Sprint Shootout, considering the speed that we had as a team and I feel like we were able to find a better window for me and the car at the start of the session.”

Luckily for Sarge, there’s a second chance of racing awaiting him with the Grand Prix, and he knows there’s speed in the FW45, explaining, “Obviously, I’m sad to have ended it the way we did, but I’m looking forward to using some of that pace tomorrow and having a good race.”

Dave Robson, Williams Racing Head of Vehicle Performance, detailed the challenges of the tweaked Sprint weekend:

“Today was the first running of the new sprint event format, which replaced the old free practice session with a qualifying shootout.

“Going straight into qualifying on a dusty track wasn’t easy but both drivers adapted well and were set to qualify for the 2nd section of the shootout.

“Unfortunately, Logan hit the wall on his final flying lap; despite a big effort from the team, we were unable to rebuild the car in time for the sprint race.”

Dave doesn’t foresee any issues with Logan making the grid on Sunday, though, saying: “We will complete the rebuild overnight and he will take his place in the Grand Prix tomorrow.”

Switching to Albono’s Saturday, Dave didn’t have to look far to find the positives:

“Alex enjoyed a smoother shootout session and continued where he left off yesterday evening.

“He found good pace in the car, made no mistakes and was able to qualify a very impressive 7th place, helped by the fact that Norris was unable to take part.

“With points in the sprint race only awarded to the top 8 finishers, it was always going to be difficult to challenge the four fastest teams.”

Although there were no points for P9 today, Dave acknowledges that Williams Racing are still towards the front even without wholesale upgrades for the FW45: “Alex competed hard, pushed the car hard but was unable to stay ahead of the Aston Martins.

“Scoring no points on a day where we were constantly competing near the front is very frustrating, but we are pleased with the pace of FW45, especially as we brought only minor updates this weekend.

“We are now looking forward to the Grand Prix and another chance to score some points.”