Williams have made a good start to the 2023 season and also managed to exceed their own expectations in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Heading into the season, Alex Albon was expecting them to be closer to the pack but still the slowest team.
The Thai is still of the opinion they are the ninth or tenth quickest team, but he admits that there is only around three tenths covering the second half of the field. That’s when a driver can make a crucial difference.
“I still think we’re on the fringes of that ninth, tenth position every weekend,” stated Albon.
“I say every weekend like we’ve done 20 races, but after the two races it feels like that gap from around P10 to P20 is a couple of tenths really in qualifying, maybe three tenths worst case scenario. So when you’re fighting at that kind of delta, it’s all about optimising and I really enjoy it.”
Albon kicked off the season by scoring a point at the Bahrain Grand Prix, holding off Yuki Tsunoda in the closing stages. Teammate Logan Sargeant was only 8s behind in P12 before getting lapped by Verstappen on the final tour of the race.
The Thai was also going well in Jeddah when a brake problem ended his evening early.
He is confident that they can be in the mix to fight for points in Australia this weekend. Albon scored a point at Albert Park last year following a brilliant 57-lap stint on hards.
“If you do everything right, the car feels good, the car suits this track, you’re in contention,” he said. “The last two races we were in contention. We scored a point [in Bahrain], we were in contention for a point in Jeddah.
“We come to this weekend in Melbourne and honestly it feels the same way. We feel like we have a chance to score points here.”
Photo: Williams Racing
