James Vowles Addresses Near-Collision Incident Involving Alex Albon and Reserve Driver Luke Browning

Williams team principal, James Vowles, has acknowledged the close call between driver Alex Albon and reserve driver Luke Browning during the first practice session (FP1) of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. Admitting it was an oversight on the team’s part, not Browning himself, Vowles expressed his support for the driver.

Near-Collision Incident Explained

During a flying lap, Albon came dangerously close to hitting Browning on Turn 13 when the reserve driver moved late off the racing line. This unexpected maneuver forced Albon to swerve off the track to avoid any potential collision. Aston Martin‘s Felipe Drugovich, who was behind the two Williams drivers at the time, commented, “Wowch, that was close,” over the team radio.

Both drivers were called before the stewards following the session. This incident occurred as Browning took over Carlos Sainz’s seat for FP1, in accordance with new rules this season which require teams to run rookie drivers in place of each race driver at least twice during free practice sessions throughout the season.

In a press conference following the session, Vowles accepted responsibility for the incident while backing his driver:”Yeah, I mean that’s not on Luke, that’s on us. Luke did a brilliant job. I’m not sure how much he followed it, but fundamentally he’s doing a lot of aerodynamic work for us.

It was an opportunity to return to testing conditions with a car slightly different from before, allowing the team to understand any changes and adaptations. In this case, Browning was performing numerous in-out runs, and was only given one timed lap on the soft tires. For his only lap, I don’t think it’s a bad effort putting him P13 on the time sheets. So really, really happy with the work he did.

Browning’s Performance and FP1 Conditions

Browning finished in a respectable 12th place on the timesheet. With FP1 featuring temperatures significantly different from qualifying and the race, this session was efficient for fulfilling the ruling.

Vowles acknowledged that the conditions were warmer than they would be during the race, making it an unrepresentative session. He also mentioned that Sainz had completed many hundreds of kilometers around the track.”It’s always painful, but it is less painful to run a Friday driver here,” Vowles said.