Anyone who stayed up in the early hours of the morning to watch the first free practice session saw how Alexander Albon lost Williams on a bump and then suffered a serious injury.
At the time it was impossible to know how serious the damage was, but after a few hours the picture became clearer. Albon's car's frame was so badly damaged that they couldn't repair it on the spot due to a lack of spare parts, so they had to make a difficult decision to salvage what they could:
"Following the accident suffered by Alex Albon in the first free practice session, we can confirm that the significant damage means that we will not be able to use this chassis for the rest of the weekend. It will be returned to headquarters for repairs and, as there is no spare frame available, it is the team's decision to offer Alex the opportunity to compete with the frame used by Logen Sargeant. We have made this decision with regret, but in the tightest battle in the mid-table, every race and every opportunity to score points counts. We cannot be grateful enough to Logan for taking this decision with his head held high and demonstrating once again his commitment to the team," Williams Racing said in a statement.
