Williams suffered a dire day at Interlagos as they endured what team principal James Vowles called “three incredibly large crashes in just a few hours.”
Both drivers crashed in qualifying and the damage to Alexander Albon’s car (pictured) was so severe he was unable to take part in the race.Franco Colapinto did take the start but suffered another heavy crash during a Safety Car period. He said afterwards he was “very sad for the team.”
“They did an amazing job to put the car back on track on the race and I destroyed it again,” he told the official F1 website. “So I’m very sorry for them.
“It was a very tough day for us, honestly, things didn’t go our way today. I think we had a quick car and we boxed to put the inters on and there was a lot of rivers.
“I was pushing to get the tyre temps up and I just lost the car on that big river. So not a good day for us.”
Williams suffered a shortage of spare parts earlier in the season and Vowles said the amount of damage done in Brazil leaves them in another predicament ahead of the final three races of the year, the first of which is in three weeks’ time.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“We’ve had three incredibly large crashes in just a few hours from one another and have a tremendous amount of work to get ourselves back on top of our spares situation before we go to Las Vegas in just a few weeks’ time,” he said.
“The nature of Formula 1 is that you can have some of the most incredible feelings and results, as well as some of the lowest moments that you can feel within a sport. I think it’s fair to say this weekend is the second of those two.”
Adding insult to injury, Williams lost a significant amount of ground to rivals Alpine on Sunday. They led their rivals by three points heading into Brazil, but Alpine scored a windfall 35 at Interlagos, propelling them to sixth in the standings.
“Our rivals, Alpine, were quick in the race, no doubt about it,” said Vowles. “They deserved those positions, but they scored a huge bag of points putting them back up into a very high championship position and demoting us back down to ninth.
“[But] I never give up until it’s time to give up and that won’t be until we’re in Abu Dhabi and the chequered flag has dropped.”
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2024 Brazilian Grand Prix
- “I didn’t really want to come back” – Hamilton explains cryptic Brazil radio message
- Ocon’s role in Gasly’s Q2 exit was almost another ‘flare-up’ at Alpine – Oakes
- Interlagos must improve “very bad” new track surface for 2025, say F1 drivers
- “That’s how we silence them”: Verstappen’s stunning Brazil win from start to finish
- Verstappen now has as many wins as F1’s first six world champions combined
Patrick (@paeschli)
3rd November 2024, 20:11
IIRC he was pushing to pit for wets for a couple laps at that point. He clearly was not confident in being able to keep it on the track.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
3rd November 2024, 20:26
hopefully Williams take something away from this weekend concerning their suspension setup and how much risk they are willing to accept.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd November 2024, 20:32
He was struggling since the start, and to be fair, Russell also said that at that point he couldn’t push the throttle as the risk of aquaplaning was very high.
I’ve read he was telling the team to put wet tyres but they went with new inters instead.
Davethechicken
3rd November 2024, 20:40
Franco has joined a very select group of drivers to cause a red flag whilst under a full safety car!
I can’t think of another example, can anyone else? Is he the first ever??
David West
3rd November 2024, 20:55
Jules?
Davethechicken
3rd November 2024, 21:06
Jules tragic accident was under double yellows, not SC as I recall. I remember part of the controversy was that the digger was on the run off without SC being deployed, which has now changed.
Craig
4th November 2024, 11:23
Indeed it was under double yellows and it’s worth noting he was on heavily worn intermediates as the rain was increasing and at the time what was happening was standard procedure. Doesn’t change the fact it was a tragedy (that arguably could have been worse) of course and some of the changes since have been positive.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
3rd November 2024, 20:55
Grosjean few years ago in Baku.
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd November 2024, 21:01
No red-flagging on that occasion.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
3rd November 2024, 22:27
Russell in Imola in the Williams back in 2020 I think.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
3rd November 2024, 22:28
Ah I didn’t notice the bit about the red flag, nevermind.
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd November 2024, 21:02
His first two proper errors in F1.
Scotty (@rockonscotty)
3rd November 2024, 21:44
First time in F1 in the wet. Look at all the other drivers that went off. Nothing to be ashamed about, just have to pay your crash dues to be a great driver! I truly hope he gets a good seat for next year!
Mig29smt
3rd November 2024, 22:36
Though weekend for him, his grandfather died on thursday. He crashed twice, Williams called him 2 times in few laps to put intermediate again and with even with Safety car on track he touches the throttle and hits the wall hard. Well, I hope he learned something from all this and moves on.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
4th November 2024, 7:18
Given the howler regarding the race timing, Williams would be well-advised to require the FIA to pay their fees for repairing the cars. Definitely for the one in the race, probably also worthwhile for the qualifying ones.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
4th November 2024, 14:26
Well, Williams could have been P6 in the championship and won the race so any gamble is worth taking in rainy conditions.
Frankly, I’m surprised Kick Sauber didn’t try to put 2 drivers on the podium yesterday. Get out there and don’t bother bringing the cars back…
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
4th November 2024, 16:39
Totally forgivable to have such struggles on a weekend such as that. But I also kinda expected that he would have accidents and incidents with how he drives anyway.
He has been impressive at times but I do think the media and some fans have been over hyping him and ignoring the flaws. The passion surrounding him makes sense though since this is how Argentinian fans are..