In the round-up: Williams says it has been able to repair the upgraded aero package on Alexander Albon’s car after his crash at the start of the British Grand Prix.
In brief
Albon will be able to run upgrades at Austrian Grand Prix
Albon was the only Williams driver to run the team’s major upgrade package at the British Grand Prix. However it was heavily damaged when he was taken out in the multi-car crash at the first corner of the race.
However Williams’ head of vehicle performance, Dave Robson, said it had been possible to repair much of the damage.
“Having damaged Alex’s car at the race start last weekend, coming straight into a sprint event is logistically difficult,” Robson acknowledged. “However, we have been able to repair or replace much of Alex’s car such that we can continue to understand the updates during FP1 on Friday.”
The team’s efforts to assess the changes will be made more difficult by the loss of one practice session this weekend. “There is very little time to change the car before it passes into parc ferme at a sprint event and so we will need to be bold going into FP1 if we are to continue to push the performance,” said Robson.
Norris warns over sausage kerb crashess
Lando Norris said Formula 1 should take note of the alarming airborne collisions caused by sausage kerbs, after one launched Dennis Hauger’s car into Roy Nissany’s cockpit during Sunday’s Formula 2 race at Silverstone.
“I think we’ve mentioned it several times and every now and then you maybe have a year where you get away with it and nothing happens and everyone’s like, ‘oh, it’s okay,’” said Norris. “But you have freak accidents, like turn one [in the grand prix] and like what you saw in the last corner in F2, that it can happen even when you least expect it.”
Norris said the sport has been “lucky” to avoid worse crashes involving the kerbs, “because I think the halo genuinely did save someone’s life again today. Maybe not many people saw it, but good to see.”
He said that “something needs to be done” about the kerbs. “It’s always hard because you’ve got a guy, whatever kerb is there, if you’ve got a guy coming to T-bone you, no matter what height they’re at, it’s never a good thing.
“But the way that they get smashed up into the air and launched in the air is it probably comes out worse that way than if it was just a pure side impact in some circumstances.”
Lawson yet to learn when he’ll drive Red Bull
Liam Lawson does not yet know whether he will get to for Red Bull after replacing Juri Vips as the team’s test and reserve driver.
Vips drove in the first practice session for Red Bull in Barcelona, one of two sessions the team is obligated to give over to young drivers during 2022. He was subsequently dropped from the team after using a racial slur during a live stream, though he remains part of their junior driver programme.
“For me, it’s a very, very cool opportunity, obviously,” said Lawson. “But that stuff, I’ll wait to find out more, I guess. I don’t know exactly what sessions I could potentially be doing this year, but for now it’s it’s just carry on focussing on F2 and we’ll see what happens later. But it’s a great opportunity.”
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On this day in motorsport
- 20 years ago today Michael Schumacher won at a slippery Silverstone, ahead of team mate Rubens Barrichello and pole-winner Juan Pablo Montoya
