Williams Team Strategy Shines at Australian Grand Prix, Beating Ferrari

Despite completing less than a lap under green-flag conditions during the Australian Grand Prix, Williams Racing driver Carlos Sainz played a pivotal role in helping his teammate Alexander Albon outperform both Ferrari cars.

Sainz’s Early Exit Leads to Team Collaboration

Starting from tenth place, Sainz spun off at the final corner following the safety car deployment due to Jack Doohan’s earlier spin. The team attributed this mishap to the peculiarities of the gearbox mapping while running in safety car mode. Sainz, instead of leaving for the airport, joined the engineers to monitor Albon’s progress.

From sixth on the grid, Albon navigated a drying track in seventh place, behind Yuki Tsunoda’s Racing Bulls car but ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari. Albon pitted for slicks on lap 33, the same time as Tsunoda and Hamilton, and they emerged in the same order.

Strategic Decisions Prove Crucial in Wet Conditions

When rain returned on lap 44 of 57, teams faced a challenging decision regarding whether to pit again for intermediates, as radar suggested the cloudburst would be brief. Albon was the third driver into the pits after race leader Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell, and Sainz’s input was instrumental in this timing.

“The pitstops were absolutely on point, the strategy – well done to them,” praised team principal James Vowles. “One point to note on the strategy is that we had an additional strategist today, which was Carlos.” Sainz’s insights proved crucial during the transition to intermediates.

Contrasting strategies led to varying results. Ferrari instructed both its drivers to stay out, while Tsunoda also opted to continue on slicks for another three laps. Conditions soon confirmed Sainz’s predictions, as Albon gained a place before his stop due to Oscar Piastri’s spin and rose two more places at the expense of Charles Leclerc and Tsunoda when and Racing Bulls succumbed to the conditions.

Albon held fourth until Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli overtook him with two laps remaining. Photos from Australian GP – Race