Alex Albon or Logan Sargeant? Why Williams may be forced to make tough decision

The Williams F1 team may be forced to make a difficult decision for the rest of the Australian Grand Prix if Alex Albon’s damaged chassis cannot be repaired.

Albon suffered a heavy crash in first practice and badly damaged his Williams when he lost control of his FW46 before smashing into the wall at Turn 8.

The British-born Thai driver was forced to miss the second session while Williams assessed the extent of the damage to his car.

Williams does not have a spare chassis in Melbourne and may decide to switch Albon to teammate Logan Sargeant’s car on Saturday if the damaged tub is written off.

“It was a fairly big accident,” Williams team principal James Vowles told Motorsport.com after FP2. “The engine is damaged, the gearbox is split in two, and the chassis is damaged.

“It's the worst you could have ever had. We do not have a third chassis here, that's correct. So now it's just whether we can repair this one.

"We have repair kits, fundamentally of those I'm not yet sure, because it's a very serious accident and with what happened on the front [right] corner.”

Vowles added that Williams will ultimately side with the driver who is most likely to score points if Albon’s chassis is damaged beyond repair.

"One point here will make the difference between sixth and 10th potentially in the championship, simple as that,” Volwes explained.

"It just depends. I want to see how FP2 is, I want to see how the car performs. I want to see what options we have available to us on the chassis here as well."

Sky’s F1 pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz reported: "Alex Albon has damaged his chassis. That's the survival cell, the tub around which the front and rear suspension and front suspension, the engine and nose cone actually go onto.

"The question is now, because they don't have a spare chassis, whether they can repair that chassis. They don't know that yet, they hope they can but if they can't, they will have to face the question of whether they swap Alex Albon for Logan Sargeant and that's a question they will struggle with throughout the evening.”

Martin Brundle believes it is a “no-brainer” to run Albon and leave Sargeant on the sidelines if Williams end up being down to one car.