The big surprise in qualifying for the Formula 1 race in Zandvoort 2023 on Saturday was clearly the Williams team. Both drivers made it into Q3 in the Netherlands – Logan Sargeant making it there for the first time – and Alexander Albon even made the big leap into the second row of the grid. He will start fourth.
Even the competition is amazed: “I’m really happy for Williams and for Alex,” says George Russell, who had pushed his good buddy from third place. “I flew here with Alex and I asked him what his expectations were. And he said, ‘I think we’re going to be bad.’ I guess he was wrong.”
In fact, Williams didn’t have many on the bill before the weekend. Actually, the FW45 is considered to be strong on circuits with many long straights where you can use your top speed advantage. The course at Zandvoort is quite the opposite with its high downforce nature.
So how can Albon explain the suddenly good pace? “I can’t do that,” he laughs. But anyone who followed the training sessions should have already had Williams on the note: the Thai was among the top 6 in all three training sessions.
“The car felt good from the first lap of practice one and when that happens the others usually work their way up because they put their car in the right window,” said Albon, who felt Williams was doing it had found the sweet spot quite early.
“We haven’t played around with the car that much since the first practice session and that gave me self-confidence,” he says and sees that as the secret to the success in qualifying. “You just have to feel one with the car. In conditions like this it’s not just about downforce, it’s about having a car that can be driven at the limit. And that was the whole weekend.”
The wind was favourable
Another factor was the wind, which the team felt was favorable: “There was a nice headwind in many of the slow corners. We always have problems braking for slow corners, but everything feels better with a headwind, because it pushes you onto the road ahead,” he says. “That hid our normal problems.”
“And the downwind corners were the normal high-speed corners where our car isn’t that bad anyway,” he explains. “We tried this wind in the simulator and played around with it. And we knew that it would be good for our car.”
Nevertheless, after the good training impressions, the Thai had expected to fall further behind. Because he didn’t think the results were representative because he knew that Williams was running pretty light.
“Last year we had the problem that we were caught off guard by the fact that the car feels so different when you cut the fuel,” he explains the tactics. You also have to deal with the tires differently. “It makes a big difference and we didn’t want that problem this weekend.”
“So we were pretty light on the road and therefore knew what we had to do with the tyres. We wouldn’t have known that if we hadn’t managed it in the second practice session,” said Albon. “It was just a strong weekend, also for Logan. Q3 shows that the car is fast.”
Sargeant: First Q3 entry ends in accident
Team colleague Logan Sargeant underlined the speed of the Williams with the first Q3 entry of his Formula 1 career. The American made it through Q1 and Q2 in 15th and 10th place and was happy about his first top 10 grid position, which was marred by a crash in Q3.
Sargeant lost control of his car at Turn 2 and flew violently into the tire barriers, but was unhurt. “It’s difficult,” he says. “The track is so narrow and the dry line was barely wider than a car. All it takes is a millimeter off the line and you can’t hold it anymore.”
“I hate that it ended like this,” he told Sky. “Leaving the team a wrecked car is always the last thing I want. But I can’t do anything about it now. I’m trying to learn from it and take the positives with me.”
And there’s a lot of that at Zandvoort, he says: “Yesterday in the dry I felt like I was really there and the long run pace was really good too. The car was in a great window,” said Sargeant.
“In the wet, I lacked a bit of pace in Q1 and Q2, but the most positive thing was that I put in the laps when I had to. And I missed that a bit this year,” he says. “It’s really nice that I’ve managed to do that now. But everything was overshadowed by this millimeter error.”
The first points follow?
He also says that Williams is not quite sure where the strong pace is suddenly coming from. “We didn’t expect things to go so well here. But we have to understand why,” he says.
“And I have to look at what I did wrong, whether it was just a little unavoidable mistake or some mindset thing. I don’t quite get it yet, but I have to find out, but then I can’t dwell on it for too long , because our long run pace was great.”
“Hopefully we can get the car back up as best as we can and then try to capitalize on our good long run pace to get a few points.” Because that’s clearly his goal for Sunday: That’s where his first Formula 1 points should come from.
“Exactly. That’s the goal,” he clarifies. “I put myself in that position to be in the top 10, but I also put the team in a position with a damaged car. There are ups and downs,” says Sargeant. “You have to take it as it comes and hopefully I’ll put in a perfect race tomorrow to make up for it.”
Sargeant sees progress
But regardless of the error: Has Sargeant now made a breakthrough with the result? “Personally, I’ve seen this progression throughout the European season and it was just a matter of time,” he says. “I know I’m close in the dry now, which is very positive for me. I’m starting to understand how to get the time out of the car.”
“In Q3, I knew we would have a great chance, as Alex showed. We had a really good car in the dry, so making that mistake is all the more painful.”
However, the changeable session seamlessly ties in with the past race weekends, where there was hardly ever a perfectly normal event without rain or other distractions. “We’re probably having the most difficult season in Europe that I can remember with all the mixed conditions,” said the American. “It doesn’t make my life any easier.”
“But that’s not an excuse either,” he says. “I do my best every time and see the progress. I know that such mistakes are expensive and I simply have to stop them. That is crucial.”
For Sunday he is hoping for a dry race because Williams had good race pace there. “If it’s dry we have a good chance of points,” says Sargeant. And while the American is chasing his first point, teammate Albon could be up for even more. Maybe even on the podium?
podium? Albon laughs
“Haha,” he laughs and doesn’t want to dream of a podium. “Our race pace was respectable but it was definitely not top class and all the top teams are around us. I don’t think any rider could stop them and they are all right behind me. So it’s going to be a difficult race. But let’s see just.”
Albon says that given the conditions, he actually expected “that a [Nico] Hulkenberg, a [Kevin] Magnussen or a Yuki [Tsunoda] would come in Q3 and would hold everyone up”. But that wasn’t the case. “Somehow everyone is [Topteams] into Q3.”
Then teammate Sargeant, who came in Q3, has to fix it. “That helps a lot strategically and I hope Logan has broad shoulders,” he jokes. “He must also be good in the banked turns because he’s an American.”
But seriously: Zandvoort is considered a circuit that is difficult to overtake on, and the Williams, with its high top speed, is considered the most difficult car to overtake. Pierre Gasly even said that Williams was treated differently than other teams in strategy meetings.
So it should be easy for Albon to stay ahead. “That’s a nice compliment,” he says. “But that’s not true for this weekend.”
“We’re not the fastest on the straight, as everyone says,” emphasizes the Thai. “We’re in midfield, we’re not that fast, so we can’t race like we did in Canada.” There, Albon benefited from the high top speed of the Williams and kept faster cars behind him to finish seventh.
“We have to be quick in terms of pace, otherwise we’ll be overtaken,” he fears. “I think it’s an advantage in the long run because you saw it at Spa: too much of it isn’t good for our car, we overheat our tires so we need a bit of downforce, so let’s see.”
Competition rejoices with Williams
The competition has definitely been warned and has Williams on the list – and many are also happy with the racing team, which has been so badly shaken in recent years.
“Williams deserves to be at the forefront,” says Mercedes Motorsport Director Toto Wolff. Max Verstappen also thinks it’s “great for the sport” to have more teams up front in the fight.
“And of course I’m happy for Alex too. He’s a great guy,” he says of his former team-mate. “We had a good time together and I’m happy that he has a competitive car and is among the front runners.”
And former Williams driver George Russell can also be happy for his former racing team, even if he will have Albon right next to him on Sunday. “It was really nice to see him up there and it shows how much you can improve your performance when you have confidence,” he says.
“Williams is making tremendous strides at the moment and I think James Vowles is a really positive influence there. I think he’s definitely the best man for the job that Williams needs right now for their resurgence,” he said of the new team boss, who worked with him at Mercedes last year.
“It’s great to see that not only the top teams are fighting and that’s what we want in Formula 1. We want everyone to have a chance if they do a good job.”