Williams confident Albon will make FP2 after Monaco crash
Williams expects Alex Albon to return for Free Practice 2 in Monaco
Williams is confident Alex Albon will make it out for Free Practice 2 after crashing out of the opening hour of running at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Albon crashed out late in the opening hour of track running to draw the red flag and end the session early.
He lost control at Sainte Devote, clouting the outside wall with the left-rear before dragging the left-front in as well.
It left the car with significant damage, giving mechanics an uphill task to rebuild the FW45.
“I think quite a bit of damage,” said team boss James Vowles when asked about the incident.
“It’s both front and rear corner, rear wing and beam wing, I think as well.
“Probably bodywork may be unscathed; I didn’t have time to look at it before I came here.
“It’s a feature of Monaco, really. You’ve got to start pushing and find the limit, just in this particular case it really is just a matter of kilometres an hour – in fact two kilometres an hour more than the previous lap.”
Vowles added that he was “pretty confident” Albon would make a return for Free Practice 2.
Two drivers found the barrier in the opening hour, with Nico Hulkenberg the first.
The German brushed it at the Nouvelle Chicane, pulling the left-rear tyre off the rim, though he was able to get back to the pits.
“This is a confidence track. We hear drivers say that we hear engineers say that,” reasoned Vowles.
“How much of a setback is this? Where you really suffer is when you miss most of the session as a result of it, or don’t fully understand why even that happened.
“As long as you can contain it and understand what went wrong, I don’t think it’ll be a setback.
“The biggest items, no team I don’t think is flushed with spares, especially these rear wings – it’s the first time they’ve been on the cars, so you’re just going to be short on stuff.”
Williams has a circuit-specific rear and beam wing for Monaco, and has introduced new front suspension to cope with the requirements of the circuit.
Albon ended the session 10th fastest with 32 laps before crashing out, while rookie team-mate Logan Sargeant was 18th quickest.
Free Practice 2 begins at 17:00 local time (01:00 AEST).
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