Team Focus

Monza Grand Prix Team Focus: Williams

Our team focus for the Italian Grand Prix is the Williams team. Their drivers are Alexander Albon from Thailand who races with the number 23 and Logan Sargeant from the Unites States who races with the number 2.

Williams got a new team principal for the 2023 season - James Vowles who previously worked at Mercedes. He has brought a new perspective to the team and is helping them climb up the grid.

2023 has been much better for Williams than recent years. They currently have 15 points as a team and stand 7th in the Constructors Championship.

Alexander Albon has picked up all 15 of the Williams points and stands P13 in the drivers championship. Logan Sargeant is yet to score in a race but he has been looking more competitive the last few races.

Logan Sargeant has had 4 retirements so far in 2023, his most recent being the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend when he suffered a hydraulic failure after running over a kerb. Alex Albon has had 2 retirements so far this year.

Grand Prix weekend overview

It looks to be a very hot, very sunny, dry weekend in Monza . The air temperature should be in the late 20 degrees celsius (78-84 degrees farenheit) for the whole weekend.

This means that we won't have the same weather drama as last weekend, but hopefully there is still lots of drama on-track!

Strategy will be much more straightforward than last time out, with no rain adding the difficulty for when to pit for inter or wet tyres, and making decisions as to whether or not they can stay out.

Timings For The Weekend

Free Practice 1 - 12:30 BST 13:30 local time

Free Practice 2 - 16:00 BST 17:00 local time

Free Practice 3 - 11:30 BST 12:30 local time

Qualifying - 15:00 BST 16:00 local time

The Race - 14:00 BST 15:00 local time

Free Practice 1

Williams did not go out immediately into FP1, probably because they need to save their tyres for later on in the weekend. With less tyres allocated than usual, teams in the midfield with a chance if getting through to Q2 and even Q3 want to conserve their tyres for qualifying rather than burn them out at the start of the weekend.

When the cars did get out, both cars went out on softs and they had decent pace. Albon's first lap put him in P10 but Sargeant didn't have the same pace as his first lap put him in P16.

Albon had a big off-track moment on the exit of turn 10 with about 20 minutes to go, but carried on and made it back to the pits where the car was checked over for damage.

Overall, it was a decent session for Williams. Logan Sargeant finished the session in P12 with a fastest lap time of 1:23.661 Alex Albon finished the session in P10 with a fastest lap time of 1:23.444

FP2 looks to be similar conditions, so let's see if Williams can improve on this session.

Free Practice 2

Free Practice 2 was a mixed session for the Williams team. Albon made big improvements on FP1, but Sargeant struggled with pace throughout the session.

It was also a much more eventful session than earlier, with 2 red flags during the session. This meant that there was less running time because the clock doesn't stop during red flags in Free Practice sessions. The two re flags were for Lance Stroll who's car suffered a fuel system issue causing him to stop on track and Sergio perez who ran wide and hit the barrier.

Logan Sargeant finished the session in P16 with a fastest lap time of 1:22.735 and Alex Albon finished the session in P7 with a fastest lap time of 1:21.979.

Free Practice 3

Williams had a good session overall in FP3 due to. Alex Albon set 17 laps and Logan Sargeant set 22 laps. Once again, the session was warm and sunny and it will be very similar conditions in qualifying later today.

Logan Sargeant went out straight away and jumped to P5, but the track was quickly improving and he dropped down the order as he pitted. Alex Albon stayed in the garage for the first 15 minutes, and his first lap put him in P8.

About halfway through the session, Sargeant's left mirror broke. This is a very unusual incident and would have made driving around Monza very difficult.

The medium tyres worked really well for Williams, with both drivers improving their position after they were put on. Albon went straight to P2!

Logan Sargeant improved on yesterday's performance but still had some struggles keeping up with his team mate. Alex Albon kept up his improved his pace from yesterday.

Alex Albon finished the session in P9 with a fastest lap time of 1:22.054 and Logan Sargeant finished the session in P15 with a fastest lap time of 1:22.380

Come back to this page after qualifying to see how Williams did!

Qualifying

Williams had a great Q1 session, with both drivers through to Q2. Logan Sargeant stayed around P10 for the whole session, and ended the session in P6. Alex Albon stayed around P5 the whole session, and ended the session in P2.

Q2 was a very mixed session. Albon had a great Q2 session and was consistently setting quick lap times that kept him around P5 throughout the session. He is through to Q3 for the second weekend in a row after finishing in P5. Sargeant struggled to keep up with the pace of the rest of the pack throughout the session, and is out in Q2. He will start the race in P15.

Alex Albon had another great qualifying session in Q3. His first lap put him in P4, where he stayed for most of the session. Inevitably, there was rapid track evolution, but Albon managed to keep the pace and will start the race in P6.

The Race

The race was the hottest temperatures of the weekend, but was pretty much the same conditions as the other days. Both Williams drivers started on the medium tyres, which worked well to help them in the first stint.

Alex Albon didn't have the best start as he lost a place to Oscar Piastri, but he quickly got the position back and was back to P6 at the end of lap 2.

Logan Sargeant had a great start, helped by his medium tyres. He went from P16 to P13 in the first couple of laps and managed to keep his position for the majority of the race.

Sargeant pitted first, on lap 15, and came out in P16 on the hard tyres. Albon pitted one lap later and came out in P13, also on the hard tyres.

Albon made up places quickly, and by lap 28 he was back in the P6 he started in. However, this run of quick laps meant he started to struggle with his tyres and had to manage them. Sargeant also made up some good positions.

Alex Albon finished the race in P7 after being overtaken by Lewis Hamilton a few laps from the end, but he managed to defend from Lando Norris and picks up another 6 points for the team.

Logan Sargeant finished the race in P11, so doesn't pick up any points. He did receive a 5-second time penalty during the race for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas, but he was far enough ahead of Piastri behind him that he keeps his position.

Williams leave the weekend with a total of 21 points and hold their P7 in the championship.

Alex Albon leaves the weekend with 21 points and keeps his P13 in the drivers championship.

Logan Sargeant is still yet to score points and stands P19 in the championship.