Albon airs ‘stay home’ mindset over Williams spare parts woe

Alex Albon has insisted that he would “stay home” if he began to worry about Williams' lack of spare parts at the start of the season, as the team prepares to fit an upgraded front wing in China.

Williams' pressing issue this season has been extra components, particularly in light of both Albon and team-mate Logan Sargeant experiencing large shunts in recent weeks.

The Grove-based outfit has had the mammoth task of completing chassis repairs following crashes in Australia in Japan as they remain without a spare tub.

The extra chassis is not expected to be available until the Miami Grand Prix next month.

However, Williams has been able to develop a new front wing for both drivers this weekend, much to the gratitude of Albon who has set his sights on Williams' first points of the season.

"It's been a tremendous effort," praised Albon to select media including RacingNews365. "I think we've been on the backfoot with the crashes and it's no secret we were already on the backfoot before the crashes.

"So it's another mighty job as always, we have to rely on the staff back at Grove to pull things together, and they continuously do so. Very, very important, especially coming into a sprint race as well.

"With all the possibilities and whatever can happen this weekend, you want to be as best prepared as possible because races like this, where it's so unknown, is an opportunity for teams like us."

Must always 'attack the weekend'

Being without a spare chassis has been Williams' Achilles heel during the start of the season, as it has put both Albon and Sargeant under more pressure to keep the car out of the barrier.

Unfortunately, no side has experienced more big shunts than the British outfit, with Albon crashing heavily at the last two events (Australia and Japan).

While the Thai-British driver is acutely aware of the spare parts issues behind-the-scenes, he stressed he is not thinking of the repercussions while sat in the cockpit.

"You go about your racing, not really thinking about it if I'm totally honest," added Albon. "Obviously, it's there, but the moment that you start to think about the lack of parts or the lack of whatever, you might as well stay home.

"You got to attack the weekend, like you do any other weekend. You can't treat it any differently, you've got to be on the limit to feel what the limit is and you've got to get a balance for the car.

"So it's one of those ones, where you do have to park your brain and just go about racing. It's normal. You have to still treat the weekends the same."