Williams F1 Uses Singapore-Inspired Strategy to Defend in Jeddah

Williams F1 adopted a Singapore-style strategy in Jeddah, using DRS to defend against Hadjar’s advances, with Albon and Sainz leading the charge.

Williams F1 team should not have referred to their strategy last weekend as the “Singapore Plan,” said Team Principal James Vowles, as it could easily be “misinterpreted.”

The team instructed their drivers, Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon, to run in close formation during the second half of Sunday’s race to minimize the risk of Isack Hadjar overtaking them, as the latter was rapidly gaining ground toward the end of the race.

After Hadjar’s pit stop, where he emerged behind both Williams cars, race engineer James Urwin told Albon, “This could be a potential Singapore Plan.”

The team’s goal was for Albon to stay within one second of Sainz, allowing him to use his DRS (Drag Reduction System) in the three zones of the Jeddah circuit, effectively defending against Hadjar’s attempts to pass. Sainz had used a similar strategy to defend his position against Lando Norris during his victory at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix.

However, after the race, Vowles admitted that the choice of words may have led to an unfortunate misunderstanding.

“During the race, we used those words—James Urwin said the wrong thing. He said ‘remember Singapore,’ but that could easily be misinterpreted,” Vowles acknowledged, referring to the infamous 2008 Singapore GP when Renault orchestrated a crash by Nelson Piquet Jr. to trigger a safety car period and help Fernando Alonso win.

“There was no intention to repeat that notorious plan (known as ‘Crashgate’),” Vowles assured.

Vowles made it clear that the team had actually drawn inspiration from Carlos Sainz’s tactics during the 2023 Singapore GP.

“One of the things that really impressed me about Carlos was how he managed the gap in Singapore to secure the win a few years ago. The conversation we had was about how that was executed, and how we could apply those principles to our current situation.”

“On race morning, we discussed how a ‘DRS train’ could be one of the few ways to protect yourself here. There’s really only one place to overtake, and if you form that DRS train, you should be relatively safe. So, we had already developed this plan in the morning.”

The Williams drivers finished in eighth and ninth, ahead of Hadjar, thanks to this strategy.

“The plan was executed brilliantly by our drivers: Carlos backed off slightly to maintain the gap to Alex at about 0.9 seconds, and that was all it took.”

• Discover More>Vasseur Reveals Ferrari’s Next Upgrade Timeline
• Follow us on >FACEBOOK and >TWITTERfor F1 update

Williams F1 Uses Singapore-Inspired Strategy to Defend in Jeddah Williams F1 Uses Singapore-Inspired Strategy to Defend in Jeddah