The 2024 Spanish Grand Prix brought wind and drama, and Alexander Albon was not excluded from these issues. After a Q1 exit, qualifying 19th, the Thai driver manage to wrangle his way up to 18th at the conclusion of the Grand Prix.
The Grove-based team has frequently struggled for performance in windier conditions as their recent packages have been incredibly sensitive to wind, so the gusts at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was detrimental to them.
Albon found himself leaving the track in turn four in the closing stages of the race, and it prompted an interesting conversation on the radio.
ALB: “What the hell was that.”
Engineer: “All OK from our side.”
ALB: “No, it’s not OK. Don’t just say that within 5 seconds.”
The 2-time podium finisher explained after the race that a gust of wind was the root cause of his trip through the gravel in the FW46.
“The wind’s been up and down all race. I don’t know how it was for everyone else but for a car that’s sensitive in the wind, it was not enjoyable.
“The main issue was really that off. I know what the limit is on my car, and that wasn’t the limit. I had a huge off.
“When I got told there was nothing wrong immediately afterwards, I was like ‘there is something wrong’.
“In the end we had quite a big gust just when I hit the brakes. We don’t like gusts. Just caught me out. One of them things.”
Albon had decent pace, and he was catching the Sauber of Bottas and the Haas of Magnussen in front of him before that off as he used softs in the final stint versus their hards.
“During our race, it felt like we were on plan to get the Alfa and the Haas in front of us. We had a good tyre strategy; I think we were doing the right choices.”
In comparison to last year, the car has made major improvements regarding lap times —Albon went 0.9s in Q1 compared to last year at the same venue. But it isn’t quite enough as the other midfield squads have made very big gains as well. Williams locked out the final row on Saturday.
It confirmed to Albon that more load and downforce is required at tracks like Barcelona, as well as reducing the weight of the FW46.
“I wanted more. I look at it two ways. I look at it compared to last year, the car has made a huge step forward, in that sense I’m happy.
“At the same time, that whole midfield is so much stronger now, that’s not enough. When the midfield is getting so tight, and when we are in some ways catching, we’re getting closer to the top, to the leaders, being a bit overweight, lacking a little bit of load, it adds up.
“Not saying that this weekend exposed us but I think it just highlights for us a little bit […] it was a windy track, a hot track on a very well-known track for everyone else.
“To me it just highlights that the load is perhaps not quite there yet.
“We’re good at tracks that are a little bit more unique and unconventional. But when we come to a track that everyone has been to, the drivers have done a million laps, everyone is confident around this circuit, you can’t really make that difference.
When you compare this weekend’s performance to his performance in Canada and Monaco, the key differences were the wind and lack of tyre degradation. Spain is notoriously known for chewing up tyres, an area Williams struggles due to their relative lack of downforce and load compared to the rest.
“Look at Monaco, look at Canada. Good pace in the car, real pace as well. They were both kind to their tyres, there was no wind because they’re street tracks, so it kind of played in our advantage a bit more. I hope for a non-windy Silverstone.”
Albon and Williams have their heads up and are looking forward to better weekends in Austria and Silverstone, in the hopes of scoring some points and climbing the standings.
They took advantage of their lack of performance in Spain by adding more power unit components into the system on the Thai’s side.
“When we look at this weekend, in terms of just general looking forwards, it was a race weekend that in some ways we used to sacrifice a little bit, get some components in the pool, and just basically prepare a bit more for Austria and Silverstone on tracks that should suit us much more.”
