Albon crashed out at Turn 6 in opening practice in Melbourne, damaging the chassis beyond what could be repaired at the track.
The tub was sent back to the squad’s Grove headquarters, where it was patched up and shipped out to Japan for this weekend.
The crash meant the team had only a single entry for the remainder of the weekend in Australia; Albon shuffled across to that machine in place of Logan Sargeant.
The American is this weekend at the wheel of that now-repaired tub, though did it no favours by crashing out in Free Practice 1 after misjudging the placement of his car around the Dunlop Curve.
As a result, his participation in Free Practice 2 is in doubt as the team works to repair the car.
“It’s pretty significant [damage],” Vowles confessed after Free Practice 1.
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“The chassis is okay, fortunately, but I would say pretty much everything else isn’t. So suspension all-round, gearbox cracked, big damage.
“It’s going to be difficult,” he added of Sargeant’s chances of appearing in Free Practice 2.
“We’ll obviously do our utmost to try and get the car back out there again, but the damage is extensive, so it will take a while.”
While the team has two cars back on track this weekend, the effort involved in repairing the crashed car from Australia has had an impact.
In Melbourne, Vowles stated that he planned to have the spare car ready in time for the Chinese Grand Prix, but that timeline has slipped.
“I think the third chassis, for the moment, won’t be with us until Miami,” Vowles confessed.
“In terms of the chassis, if you put all of your resources, everything you possible had within the organisation on it, you could [build it in] eight/ten weeks,” he added of the timeline surrounding the spare chassis.
“Clearly we don’t have the whole organisation just working on that. We’re working at the same time [working] on the spares and updates.”
Williams had intended to have its third car in Japan, though pressure within Williams has seen that drawn out.
“Clearly, we don’t and never had the intention of being here without three chassis. The intention was to have everything right at the beginning of the year,” Vowles admitted.
“It’s an outcome of just an overload within the system.”
Following Japan, F1 heads to China in two weeks for Round 5 before venturing to the United States for the Miami Grand Prix for Round 6 on May 4-6.
Williams is not the only car without a third chassis. Alpine boss Bruno Famin confirmed his team was also without a spare.
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