Qatar GP: Williams Racing Grand Prix Preview
By Williams Racing
November 27 2024
Coming off another difficult weekend in Las Vegas the Williams Racing Team moves to the Losail circuit for the 2024 Qatar GP. This is the final Sprint event of the season and it is one that saw the team secure points in the Sprint in 2023, so they are hopeful of a repeat performance. The race will be at a time that is cooler than it was in 2023 which should assist the team and drivers. For Alex Albon he is hoping to finish his season of a series of good races while for Franco Colapinto the Sprint format will again place demands on him as he will only have one practice session to learn the circuit. But in previous Sprint weekends he has manage this quite well and is again hopeful of finishing his season with more good results. Overall for Williams there has to be a focus on performance and reliability combined with an event free weekend in terms of any further damage to either car.
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Sven Smeets, Sporting Director:
It was another difficult weekend in Las Vegas, but the team showed great
resilience, and it was encouraging to see that Alex was fighting for
points when the car was working well. This weekend is the last Sprint
Race of the season, bringing more opportunities to score points and turn
our fortune around. It will be much cooler than last year so it will be
interesting to see how that could change the performance for teams
across the grid. We performed well last year in Qatar so we are
confident that we can fight for points again.
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Alex
Albon:
It’s no surprise how tough these last few months have been for me and
the team, but the season isn’t over yet and hopefully we can finish on a
high. We head to Qatar for our final Sprint weekend of the season and
following a successful Sprint race last year, hopefully our luck turns,
and we can have another positive result. This is still a relatively new
track for most drivers, with lots of opportunities for good racing
across the weekend. Additionally, with the slight shift in dates for the
race, Qatar temperatures will be significantly less than last year, so
reliability and performance should look quite different for all of us.
Franco
Colapinto:
I’m feeling ready for the penultimate race of the season in Qatar this
weekend. It’s the last Sprint event on the calendar which gives me
minimal time to learn another new track, but on the other hand we have
an extra opportunity to fight for points. The aim is to maximise the
only Free Practice session to put us in the best place possible for the
rest of the weekend. I’m sure the hot and humid conditions will play a
factor. The entire team will continue to give it everything to finish
the season as strong as possible.
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Race Data
Friday:
Practice 1: 16:30 - 17:30
Sprint
Qualifying: 20:30 - 21:14
Saturday:
Sprint: 17:00 - 18:00
Qualifying: 21:00 – 22:00
Sunday: Race: 19:00 |
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