F1 star could bizarrely be ruled OUT of Australian Grand Prix

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F1 star could bizarrely be ruled OUT of Australian Grand Prix

Alex Albon ruled out following FP1 shunt

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Friday 22 March 2024 06:33 Updated: 04:57

Alex Albon was ruled out of the second practice session for Friday's Australian Grand Prix following a heavy crash in FP1 for Williams, in a incident that could now threaten his entire weekend.

The Williams driver had crashed heavily around 20 minutes from the end at Melbourne after losing his car at high speed coming out of turn six.

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Although the driver was confirmed ok following the incident, it left his Williams mechanics with a huge repair job heading into Friday's afternoon session.

It proved a repair job too big to be fixed in time, and he was ruled out shortly before the session started with Williams initially expecting him to be back in the car for FP3.

Albon's crash ruled him out of FP2 in Melbourne

Albon pays price after FP1 error

However, the damage has left Albon's car with a broken tub, and with no spare in the garage, according to Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz, it means the team will have to find an urgent fix - or possibly face the option of only running one car for the race.

It was later confirmed Williams could not fix the chassis meaning Albon would race at the expense of Logan Sargeant - whose car or chassis he may be able to use instead.

Albon was running 10th fastest when he suffered his crash with just under 20 minutes left, and given the debris caused, it took around 10 minutes for marshalls to clear the track to enable the session to restart after he lost the rear end coming out of turn six, hitting the right wall to wreck his right front wheel and suspension before being spat across the circuit into the opposite barrier.

Drivers appeared to struggle around the circuit during the first session which although held under sunny skies had a tricky wind blowing across the track, which caught out the likes of George Russell, the experienced Fernando Alonso and even Sergio Perez who all ran wide off track at high speed around turn nine.

Lando Norris, who was fastest in FP1, was among the first to drive past the accident, and such was the nature of the crash, he had to slowly make his way through the incident to avoid getting a puncture.

Williams Australian Grand Prix Alex Albon Melbourne