Williams has admitted the crashes that it endured at the Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix have given the team “tremendous work” to ensure it has enough spare parts.
The Grove-based squad encountered a horrid weekend in Brazil as it amassed a vast repair bill with three shunts happening across qualifying and the race on Sunday.
Alex Albon had progressed to Q3 at a wet Interlagos, but contact with the barrier when he lost his car under braking resulted in damage that curtailed his involvement.
That incident sandwiched team-mate Franco Colapinto clipping the wall earlier on in proceedings, while the Argentine experienced a second accident later in the race.
Williams boss James Vowles has revealed that the crippling blow has granted the team an uphill task to have the repairs sorted in time for the next race in Las Vegas.
“The nature of Formula 1 is that you can have some of the most incredible feelings and results, as well as some of the lowest moments that you can feel within a sport,” Vowles said.
“I think it’s fair to say this weekend is the second of those two. We’ve had three incredibly large crashes in just a few hours from one another and have a tremendous amount of work to get ourselves back on top of our spares situation before we go to Las Vegas in just a few weeks’ time.
“We must go to every single one of these weekends now and deliver everything possible, whilst making sure we are still looking ahead towards 2025 and 2026 because that, as I’ve said all along, is where our goal is truly set. It’s all about getting the foundations right as we go towards that ‘26 region.
“That doesn’t make today any less painful. Far from it, I’m hurting right now.
“But actually, I wanted to watch that race to the finish to make sure I remember today because this isn’t what I want us to be feeling in the future.”
Alpine relegate Williams to ninth place
Williams’ woes were compounded as rivals Alpine capitalised on the challenging conditions to record a shock double podium to move up three spots in the standings.
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly’s substantial 33-point haul has relegated Williams back down to ninth position, with a 27-point gap existing to eighth-placed RB ahead.
“Our rivals, Alpine, were quick in the race, no doubt about it,” Vowles added.
“They deserved those positions, but they scored a huge bag of points, putting them back up into a very high championship position and demoting us back down to ninth.
“I never give up until it’s time to give up and that won’t be until we’re in Abu Dhabi and the chequered flag has dropped.
“We have two fast drivers, and we have a fast car underneath us.”
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