Alexander Albon was hit hard from behind by Sebastian Vettel when the drivers who saw the crash between Guanyu Zhou and George Russell braked to avoid the collision.
That impact caused him to crash into the pit wall and then he was also hit by other cars as he bounced around the track.
Once his Williams stopped on the track, he radioed the team that he was fine, but it took longer than usual for doctors to get him out of the cockpit .
Following an initial check-up at the circuit’s medical centre, he was sent to Coventry Hospital for further examination, before being released on Sunday night.
In a statement released in the evening, Williams said: “We are pleased to announce that Alex has been cleared by doctors and has been released from Coventry Hospital. Thank you all for your well wishes.”
Albon himself said: “I’m very pleased that everyone else involved in the first lap incident is doing well. Thanks to all the medical staff at the circuit and at Coventry Hospital. It’s a shame our race ended before it started.” today, but we are already totally focused on Austria.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Williams team principal Jost Capito said the Thai driver had told him the pit wall hit had been the hardest.
“It’s a little sore,” he said. “We’ll see how it is tomorrow. It’s a great relief. For me it’s the most important thing, everything else is worthless.”
“His physio went with him to the medical center, and he gave us all the updates. He had some pain in his back, so you have to be careful.”
“That’s racing. You can’t get frustrated about it. The main thing is that the guys are healthy and they’ve all been able to go home, then everything else doesn’t matter.”
Following this news, Williams can now turn its attention to repairing the FW44 which featured the team’s latest upgrade package.
Asked if he had the production capacity to upgrade both cars for Austria after this big accident, Capito said: “We have to see, but we’re not in a good position. not all”.
“So we have to see what the damage really is and where the other pieces are,” he concluded.
