Alex Albon still sees Williams as one of the slower teams in Formula 1 despite earning points at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Thai driver has been exceptional for the British manufacturer so far this season and brought home the bacon in Jeddah after a disappointing mechanical failure in Bahrain. Logan Sargeant has also impressed in his rookie season for Williams although he is yet to challenge the points just yet.
Albon is quietly confident, however, that the tiny gaps between teams in the lower half of the field can be beneficial for Williams in the long run.
“I still think we are on the fringes of ninth or 10th position,” Albon admitted to the media. “After the two races, it feels like the gap from P10 to P20 is just a couple of tenths.
“When you are fighting at that kind of delta, it’s all about optimising and I really like that. I hope it continues all year.
“Coming here, the car feels good, the car suits this track and the last two races we have been in contention for points.”
Perplexed porpoising
F1 opted to tweak the technical regulations for 2023 in an attempt to prevent porpoising from being such a problem as it was at the beginning of 2022.
Williams were one of the few teams not to suffer from it much in 2022, but Albon is still confused over the changes after all teams got their heads around it by the end of the season.
“Sometimes, I question why we needed the regulation change at all because, by the end of last year, everyone had fixed their porpoising issues,” Albon added.
Albon will be hoping for points again at the 2023 Australian GP where he produced a mammoth drive to score one year ago thanks to a 50-lap stint on hard tyres in the race.
