Ex-Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan has been left “staggered” by Williams' “unacceptable” situation at the Australian Grand Prix.
Alex Albon suffered a heavy crash during FP1 which forced Williams to retire his chassis for the weekend, and with no spare chassis available, Albon was given Sargeant's car for the remainder of the event.
Jordan, who ran an F1 team under his carrying his own name in the 1990s and 2000s, reflected on how operations were handled differently during his era.
“I raced when you were allowed a spare car,” said Jordan on the Formula For Success podcast.
“So not alone had you got two cars for the two drivers, and yet there was another chassis sitting in the back of the truck, completely undressed.
“By that I mean a bare monocoque, freshly painted, but just sitting there with the minimum of things hanging off.
“Most teams would have a monocoque that would have already the steering arms in and would have the steering column in, they would have the suspension on the front on it and it would have various different aspects of the structure of the monocoque that would take less time to get to a race-worthy position on the track.
“I’m absolutely staggered – and I’d like to hear what Williams has to say – because I think it needs to be answered. It’s too critical.”
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Williams team principal James Vowles opted to field Albon for the weekend instead of Sargeant as it felt it had more potential to score points with the Thai-British driver behind the wheel.
The Grove-based squad has been languishing in the bottom half of the F1 standings for some time having once been a consistent tile-competing outfit.
Jordan has suggested that a figure from Williams' glory days should return to offer direction going forward.
“Look, how great has this team fallen,” he said. “By that, I mean, we know about the Rothmans days, we know about you [Coulthard] and Damon Hill.
“We remember [Nigel] Mansell, we remember [Alain] Prost, we remember [Ayrton] Senna. We remember the great drivers that were there.
“For heaven’s sake man, what has happened to Williams? Patrick [Head] and [Sir] Frank [Williams], of course, sadly, is no longer with us, but Patrick is often in Sardinia, we need him back.
“We need somebody back. It just needs direction. It’s impossible to accept that a team like Williams can go to a race, which they went to in Australia, with only the chassis that they had for the drivers - it’s unacceptable.”
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