Alex Albon details Williams woe after Daniel Ricciardo crash at F1 Japanese GP

• 2024 F1 Japanese Grand Prix - Race Results from Round 4

Williams have endured another unfortunate blow which could have major ramifications for their season.

Alex Albon crashed out of the F1 Japanese Grand Prix after contact on the opening lap with RB driver Daniel Ricciardo, whose race was also ended.

It is the second major crash for Williams’ in-demand driver Albon this season.

A downbeat Albon reacted to his incident in Japan to Sky: “It’s a shame. “Frustrating, and disappointing, for the whole team.

“It’s really disappointing.

“We haven’t had a great year so far.

“Obviously we’ve got a lot of damage over the past two weekends. It’s not good for us.

“We’re going to see what we’ve got to repair.

“Hopefully the crash wasn't so bad.”

At the previous round in Australia, Albon’s crash in practice caused Williams to make a controversial decision.

With no spare chassis available, they opted to remove his teammate Logan Sargeant from his car to allow Albon to race in the grand prix.

Williams came to Japan still without a spare chassis, and don’t expect to have one until Miami.

Then in Japan practice, it was Sargeant’s turn to crash. He was ruled out of FP2.

Even before Albon’s dramatic clash in the Japanese Grand Prix with Ricciardo, team boss James Vowles was forced to fend off questions about the number of incidents suffered by his drivers this season already.

“When you see the midfield at the moment, it's incredibly tight, what we are asking of the drivers is to be absolutely on the limit to get everything out of it,” Vowles insisted.

“There’s no margin for error fundamentally in terms of performance.”

Neither Albon nor Sargeant has a point in the F1 standings after four rounds of the season.

And, once again, Williams find themselves needing to repair a car after significant damage accrued.