Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon described missing out on a points finish at the Abu Dhabi GP as “a shame.”
Close to points
While speaking after his P11 finish in the final race of the 2024 season, Albon stated that while he hoped to finish in the top 10, he had struggled to maintain the temperature of his tyres. He claimed that this, in addition to keeping him out of the points, had made the race “very physical.”
“Yeah, I thought maybe ten laps to go it was still a dream.
“Actually the grip of the tyre stayed quite strong. It was the temperature that dropped away, so I think, especially when the track starts to really cool down, I literally, I just couldn’t drive quick enough to keep the temperature in the tyres. And so, for me, it was qualifying laps from pretty much lap 25 in the race to the end of the race, and it made it very physical.
“It was a shame not to, obviously, reward the team a points finish.”
2024 “a little bit of a missed opportunity”
The 2024 season has been a disappointing one for the Grove-based team, which finishes ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with just 17 points. When asked to sum up his year, Albon described it as “a little bit of a missed opportunity.”
“Yes, my general opinion is a feeling of a little bit of a missed opportunity, I would say, is where I sit.”
He explained that while much focus has been placed on the disastrous latter end of the season, Williams had started the season with an overweight car. This, he claimed, had cost them the opportunity to score points at the beginning of the year.
However, Albon also acknowledged that the team had had one successful upgrade which had allowed them to enjoy a “respectable” performance during the middle of the season.
“It’s easy to focus on this latter end of the season and the crashes, but realistically, we started with the car overweight.
“We should have scored points, many more points than the beginning of the year.
“We had one upgrade, which was a good upgrade, and we kind of had a middle part of the season that was respectable.
“And the plan was always to focus on the future and focus on next year early. And at that point, a lot of teams overtook us.
“So, if we started off a bit stronger, like what the Astons did, had a bit of a peakier beginning and trailed off at the end, it would still have been a solid season, but we didn’t.”
Albon focusing on “long-term” success with Williams
Despite these challenges, Albon stated that he was not upset with the team’s performance as their plan had always been to focus on the future.
In the end, I’m not too upset. I think I’m here for the long term. I’m not here for the short-term success, I’m here for the long term, so I’m happy with it.”
Vowles “very open” and “very honest” about Williams’ progress — Albon
When asked about the team’s progress toward their future goals, Albon stated that team principal James Vowles had been “very honest” in showing the direction of the team’s development.
Albon added that Vowles had been similarly open and honest with him, and stated that there was “an open dialogue” between them.
“I think you can see it, though. In terms of people talking, you’re right, team principals can talk.
“But I think it’s quite obvious, the setbacks we’ve had this year. We’ve been quite public about it.
“And I think James is very honest with where we are, and he’s showing you the direction and the steps back that we’re having to make in some places to get into a better place for the future.
“He’s very honest with me as well, he’s very open with me, and we have this open dialogue.”
Improvements “taking a bit longer” than Williams wanted — Albon
However, while Albon stated that the team had high aspirations for the future, he acknowledged that there had been setbacks and admitted that the development process was “a bit longer” than the team would have liked.
“And maybe it is taking a bit longer than we want it to, but I’m glad we have the aspirations to not just be fighting up at the forward end of the midfield, we want more than that.
“So the fact that we are continuously sacrificing and sacrificing the years. Just look at the upgrades, we’ve had none since Baku, so it’s been a while.”
Albon expects Sainz to “re-energise the team”
Albon was also asked about his and the team’s expectations for their new signing Carlos Sainz who joins the Grove-based team on a multi-year contract following his departure from Scuderia Ferrari. While Albon will not be joining Sainz during post-season testing, he stated that he would be participating in team meetings.
“I won’t be here unfortunately, but I’ll be joining the meetings, that’s for sure.”
He added that the addition of Sainz to the team would be “interesting” as the four-time race winner knew “what a good car is like.”
“It will be interesting, especially he’s finished P2, qualified P3, he knows what a good car is like.”
Albon stated that he would be leaning on Sainz’s experience to see where he and the team could improve, and added that he believed that the Spaniard would being “a lot to the team.”
“For me, I’m leaning a lot on his experience, his knowledge of the Ferrari, and seeing where we can improve. Not just the team, but myself as well, I’m there with an open book and willing to learn where we can improve.
“I think he’s going to re-energise the team and bring a lot to us. It’s also important how we take that information and use it for us and improve ourselves.”
Colapinto has “proved his worth” in F1 — Albon
Albon also spoke about his outgoing teammate, Franco Colapinto, who he described as being “very talented”. Colapinto, who replaced Logan Sargeant from the Italian Grand Prix onward, finished the season 19th in the Drivers’ Championship with 5 points from 9 Grands Prix.
“I feel like he’s proved his worth in Formula 1. I think he’s very talented.”
Albon, who outscored Colapinto by only 7 points in the Drivers’ Championship, admitted that he had underestimated his rookie teammate, and added that he expected to see Colapinto eventually return to F1.
“Definitely, when he joined, I underestimated just how quick he was going to be. And I believe we’ll see him in Formula 1 at some point in the future.”
Albon stated that he hoped that Colapinto’s unfortunate end to the 2024 season would not overshadow the Argentine’s performance.
“I hope not. I don’t think he deserves it to be.”
Albon claimed that the performance of the Williams car had been a major contributor to Colapinto’s performance, and added that, despite his experience, he too had had a difficult end to the season.
“I think it really goes in tandem with the performance of the car, and it became tricky at the end of the season.
“It was tricky for me, I didn’t have a fantastic end to the season, and I don’t always just blame myself for that.”
The Thai claimed that Williams was aware of Colapinto’s talent and stated that other teams should also be able to see it.
“I don’t think so. I think the team, also, even Williams, they know how good he is, and other teams will be able to see that as well.”
