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Albon lost control of his car at Turn 6, the same right-hander where he ended the 2023 Australian GP, in the latter stages of the first 60-minute practice session of the weekend.
His car speared across the circuit, where it impacted the barrier on drivers’ right, causing irreparable damage to the tub.
Team boss James Vowles responded by withdrawing the team’s other driver, Logan Sargeant, and giving his car to Albon for the balance of the weekend.
Without a third chassis, the team is now racing to get the Albon car repaired in time for the Japanese Grand Prix.
“We will definitely have two chassis in Japan, but no, I don’t think that third chassis because the workload we now have on because of this change will push it back,” team boss James Vowles confessed.
“There’s a finite amount of resource. You can either put it into making sure we have two cars built up with the correct amount of spares in Japan or the additional chassis.”
The damage sustained in the crash was significant.
“The gearbox was cracked in two, the engine mounts were completely bent, and the engine’s done, fundamentally,” Vowles admitted.
“The chassis, on the front-right corner where the suspension goes in, is torn apart, is the best way to describe it. I can put my finger into the chassis – which you shouldn’t be able to do, just for clarity.
“The team’s been brilliant in working with the structures and stresses department and with the [Design Office].
“The team here have been able to get the car back for about Monday 2 am, so we have teams already working on it for Monday onwards in order to get it repaired.
“Until they see it in person, it will be very difficult, they’re doing things by photo that we’ve done here, but there’s four or five mitigation plans in place for it.”
But while Vowles spoke confidently that a chassis would be ready in time for the Japanese Grand Prix, he conceded the full extent of the damage to the tub would not reveal itself – and therefore nor would the remediation effort required – until it had made its way back to the squad’s Grove factory in the United Kingdom.
“It’s hard until I get the chassis physically back there to give you a full acknowledgement of how difficult it would be,” he conceded when asked by Speedcafe about the timelines for the repair, and having it ready for Japan.
“It should all be achievable. The car [had] to leave by Saturday to make it back on time, which gives us near enough a week, and that’s a sufficient amount of time.
“No one can give you 100 percent certainty,” he added.
“What I can tell you is based on the evidence that we have so far and the work that’s completed [on Friday night], everything looks completely feasible.
“I’ve seen chassis in worse states come back from this.
“100 percent is a difficult number to give you, and as a statistics man, I wouldn’t say 100 percent, but I would say there is a very high probability it will all be fine.”
The Japanese Grand Prix runs from April 5-7, with the circus onsite in Suzuka from April 4 for the pre-event media day.
