Source: Sipa USA / Just Pictures
[Saba Sports News] The 2024 F1 season has concluded, with the Williams F1 team scoring 17 points and finishing ninth in the Constructors’ Championship. In a year-end summary interview, Williams driver Alexander Albon revealed an unknown secret. Due to changes in the car manufacturing process at Williams, some components experienced significant delivery delays. As a result, at the beginning of the 2024 season, the FW46 car used some stopgap measures, specifically employing metal materials for some chassis components (such as suspension parts) instead of carbon fiber. Compared to carbon fiber components, metal parts can be produced faster, but they lead to the car being overweight, increasing the load on the chassis and worsening the impact of crashes. For instance, during the qualifying session of the 2024 F1 Australian Grand Prix, Albon crashed, severely damaging the chassis, rendering it unusable. Since the team did not have a spare chassis at the time, they had to instruct Logan Sargeant to withdraw from the race, allowing Albon to drive Sargeant’s car in the main event.