Colapinto Finishes - Albon's Engine Woes Frustrate Williams

Williams endures another difficult outing as Albon retires with engine failure, leaving Colapinto to secure a modest finish.

Franco Colapinto was the sole Williams F1 driver to cross the finish line in Las Vegas, far from the points.

However, he at least brought his FW46 home intact, which was crucial after James Vowles’ pre-race warning. Another major crash could have left the team finishing the season with only one car.

Team principal James Vowles admits that another crash could leave Williams with only one car.

“We can’t rebuild another car this late in the season,” he stated just minutes before the race.

“We are already fully focused on the 2025 car.”

He also confirmed that another issue is Williams simply running out of budget for more extensive repairs.

“The situation is a real problem for us,” Vowles said.

“There are other teams that have also had more accidents than expected this year and might be in a similar situation to ours.”

“To mitigate this kind of issue, I believe every team should be allowed two major crashes within the budget. I think everyone would agree with that.”

After the race, Colapinto expressed his regrets to the team.

“It was a tough weekend. Qualifying went very well yesterday, and I was feeling increasingly confident, but I started the lap too close to Gasly, had a very tricky final corner, and unfortunately ended up with a lot of damage.”

“Starting from the pit lane today, we managed to make progress, and overall, we did a good job. It was tough managing the tires because we had a lot of graining.”

“I must give a huge thank you to the team in the garage, who have been the heroes of the last two races. They rebuilt an entire car yesterday so I could race today, and it’s incredible how good they are. They’re the best, and I’m very grateful to them. We know more opportunities will come next week in Qatar, and we’re ready to bounce back.”

Alex Albon was forced to retire due to a Mercedes engine issue. Running in the top 10, his early exit brought great frustration.

“We had a good car today and could have scored solid points, so it’s frustrating to retire with an engine problem. We need to understand if it’s related to the Free Practice 2 issue or the same problem we faced in Singapore, but we’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“We’ve had tough moments this year, so we need to stay strong. From my side, I understand these things happen, but I wanted a good result for the team to reward everyone for their hard work during these really challenging times. It wasn’t meant to be, so we’ll focus on the final two races of the season and hopefully turn things around.”