Williams heads into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the back of a P9 finish at Monza with Alex Albon, adding two points to their total for the season, moving to six overall.
The team brought a sizeable update to Zandvoort, and it has improved the car somewhat. Before he got thrown out of qualifying in The Netherlands, Albon had made Q3 there as well.
Nonetheless, the Thai is wary that the last two events suited their car more and is expecting a tougher time in qualifying around Baku.
Another update is due before the season is out, and the 28-year-old is hopeful that helps them make another gain.
“Big [update] is a big word. It’s better. It’s not a big amount [of lap time].
“I think part of it is two tracks that suit us. And the midfield is so tight. So one and a half, two tenths makes a huge difference.
“So yeah, we’re going along. I think we just need to not have the expectations so high.
“We know there’s another part of the package coming along a little bit later into the season and then hopefully we can fight a little bit more.
“But I wouldn’t be surprised if this weekend we’re not quite on the Q3 pace, but let’s see.”
Heading into the final third of the season, Albon’s target is clear. He wants Williams to overhaul Alpine in the Constructors’ Championship for P8. Seven points separate them, with car performance fluctuating from circuit to circuit.
With a lack of wild races this year and the top 8 drivers regularly locking out those spots, it’s going to be difficult for Williams to make up that ground quickly.
“I think the fight for us is with Alpine. I think we have the upper hand right now in the performance of the car. Let’s see how it plays out but it’s going to be close.
“I think you’re very correct in there’s a bit of randomness coming in. I don’t think there’s been that many random races this year apart from Silverstone and even then the order wasn’t that crazy.
“We’re missing a few of them crazy races that we need to really get [well] into the points.
“The catch-up is slow so even when you have an amazing weekend and you do everything right and the upgrade’s working perfectly, that’s two points. It’s going to take time.
“We lost quite a lot of points at the beginning of the year with everything going on with the car being overweight. We’re playing catch-up now and obviously by that point everyone’s kind of in their rhythm and it’s just difficult.”
Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes have dominated the 2024 season, taking all the wins and podiums between them.
Aside from that, however, Albon concedes that the top 4 teams are extending their gap as they continue to bring new parts to their cars, making the fight for 9th and 10th even more intense.
“The development race, them four teams are really pulling away a little bit. We’re developing well but they’re constantly bringing upgrades to their cars every other week it feels like.
“And so that P9, P10 spot […] obviously Aston have dropped off and in some races they are gettable.
“But now we’ve got Haas who are doing very strong. I think honestly if Kevin didn’t have that penalty that was an easy P9 for them last race.
“It’s tricky. Maybe we need to re-review that top ten points situation.”
