09/03/2024
NEWS STORY
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Today was one those incredibly frustrating races.
Alex had a superb start and was ahead of the Ferrari but got caught in traffic at T1 and, crucially, lost a place to Magnussen. Most of the field pitted when the safety car came out and when Alex made a pass on Magnussen shortly after the race start, he was unfairly impeded which Magnussen was penalised for, but it cost us several places and caused damage to the front wing end plate. Despite the damage, Alex was able to attack and overtake several cars, but was unable to take the final points-scoring position due to the sensible team play made by Haas.
Logan raced well today and was part of the same pack of cars as Alex for the majority of the race. His pace was strong, but he suffered with slightly higher tyre degradation than Alex in the final stint.
Although we are frustrated to have finished just outside of the points, there are positives from today, including the basic race pace of the FW46.
We have learned a lot over the last couple of weeks in the Middle East and the team can now regroup back in Europe before heading to Australia for the third round of the Championship. Melbourne is always one of the highlights of the season and we are looking forward to building on the work done in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Alex Albon: It's frustrating to not be fighting for points today, finishing just outside in P11. Haas did a great job with strategy using Kevin to hold up the group, which was very smart. Unfortunately, we didn't have the speed and we were carrying front wing damage as well, so we struggled to progress through the field. We had a better race car than we showed today, so now the focus is on improving for Australia.
Logan Sargeant: It was a decent race with a good 35 laps; however, we didn't quite have the pace needed for the last 15 laps. I was starting to explore the potential towards the end of the race, but it was a bit too late. If I'd have realised the potential earlier, we could have picked more off, but I'll look through it and see what I can do better. With the pace improving throughout the race, I'm confident we can unlock more potential for Australia.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Jeddah here.