The Australian Grand Prix was one to forget for Williams, as a crash for Alex Albon in practice was followed by a contentious call from the team which left Logan Sargeant without a car for the weekend.
Albon crashed heavily during the first free practice session, causing sufficient damage to the chassis that Williams would not be able to repair the car by the end of the race weekend.
The moment Alex Albon brought out the red flags 💥#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/Osz5naXKQR
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 22, 2024
The team had chosen not to bring a spare chassis for the long-haul run of races this month and were left to decide which driver would get the sole functioning car for the remainder of the weekend.
Ultimately, Williams opted to hand Logan Sargeant's chassis to Albon, with Sargeant sitting out the remainder of the race weekend.
It was a brutal call, though one Williams said they felt they had to make to maximise their chances of getting points in the race. Albon would finish the race in P11, just outside of the points-paying positions.
Albon has shown promise in the Williams in recent years, claiming seven points finishes last season to finish 13th in the drivers' championship.
For a team which was so accustomed to winning races and championships in the 20th century, however, it is a sad sight to see Williams routinely struggling to even break into the points nowadays.
Speaking on his podcast this week, Eddie Jordan said he believed the Australia debacle summed up the fall of a once-great team.
READ HERE: Shocking Moment As F3 Rival Swerves To Crash Into Irishman Alex Dunne
READ HERE: Eddie Jordan Correctly Called Lewis Hamilton's Bombshell Ferrari Move
Eddie Jordan slams Williams for handling of controversial Australian GP switch
Jordan and co-host David Coulthard, a 13-time F1 Grand Prix winner, discussed the controversial events of the Australian GP on this week's episode of Formula for Success.
Former F1 team owner Jordan said that he could not fathom Williams' decision not to bring a spare car to the flyaway races. He went on to say that, by comparison to the great days of the 1980s and 90s, the team had become a shadow of itself:
I'm absolutely staggered and I'd like to hear what Williams have to say. It needs to be answered, it's too critical.
How great have this team fallen? I mean, we know about the Rothmans days, we know about you [Coulthard] and Damon Hill. We remember [Nigel] Mansell, [Alain] Prost, [Ayrton] Senna, we remember the great drivers that were there.
For heaven's sake man, what has happened to Williams? I've got to look at myself and think about this. Patrick [Head] and Frank [Williams]...Frank is obviously sadly no longer with us. Patrick...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 in Australia with only the chassis that they had for the drivers. It's unacceptable.
Head and team founder Williams, alongside car designer Adrian Newey, were the figureheads of Williams' immense run of success in the 1990s, during which they won four drivers' championships.
However, their last title came almost 30 years ago in 1997, and they have won just one race since 2004. At this year's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Red Bull passed their tally of 114 race wins to move into outright fourth in the all-time constructor win list.
Though Williams' pace on track has improved since the arrival of James Vowles as team principal, they remain far off the level they achieved as regular frontrunners in the later years of the previous century.
It will be fascinating to see how the team dynamic plays out over the remainder of the season after the unfortunate call to shun Sargeant in Melbourne.
SEE ALSO: Belfast Crowd Were Loving Luke Littler's Outrageous 125 Checkout En Route To Victory
