Alex Albon was at a loss to explain Williams‘ impressive pace in free practice for the 2023 British Grand Prix, as the team look the surprise package at Silverstone.
Albon has been in the top three for all three practice sessions and was speaking after his two third-places in the dry FP1 and FP2 sessions.
Williams have scored points just twice in 2023 but after a difficult Austrian GP, the team look to have bounced back in style at Silverstone.
“I’d be lying to say it’s not surprising,” Albon told the media. “Obviously we’re not doing anything special, it’s strange because without sounding too pessimistic it didn’t feel great out there for us, but it clearly must feel worse for the others.
“We’ve also had this upgrade package, which from what we’ve seen has been a bit better for high-speed corners than low-speed.
“Canada and Austria were kind-of low-speed tracks so, hopefully, maybe it is partly due to that.”
Williams aim for milestone celebration
Williams are celebrating their 800th grand prix at Silverstone – despite the fact it’s their 799th race with the real milestone coming at the Hungarian GP next up.
But that’s not stopped them decking the engine cover out in a union jack and Albon‘s marking the occasion with a special ‘zebra’ helmet harking back to the team’s first car in 1978.
Albon finished second in a jumbled and rain-affected FP3 session but the British-Thai driver is strong in the wet, with heavy weather also predicted for qualifying.
But like I said, it’s a bit of a question mark and honestly, our long-run pace is really strong on the hard tyre.
“We’ve got to keep grounded and just focus on ourselves,” Albon added. “But it’s a bit of a strange one to finish practice and see yourself in the top three and it’s going to rain tomorrow.
“So I think the wind out there today is a real pain, it really separates the balance of the car, but for us we seem to be coping with it much better than everyone else.
“Every corner is different here because the wind is hitting the car in different, in different ways so you get what you call a very disconnected car.”
