Alex Albon explains Williams’ plan to experiment with their latest upgrade this weekend with the aim of understanding the improvements on a track which historically has not suited the team.
Speaking on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, Williams’ Alex Albon discussed the team’s latest updates following a strong showing last time out in Azerbaijan. Albon explained that, while the upgrade works well on paper, on track data will allow the team to improve the ‘general balance’.
With many team’s targeting the US Grand Prix at COTA next month for upgrades, Albon explained the latest improvements to the FW46 are better suited to street circuits than a more traditional track like COTA.
“We’ve got an upgrade package this weekend. We just want to see how it reacts.” Albon explained when asked of the team’s plans for the weekend. “On paper, it works well. We’ve tried it in a simulator. Depending on the circuit, it changes the feeling. But, yeah, a lot of it is trying to tackle some of the general balance of the car.
“Truthfully it would have been amazing to have it a bit earlier. But it’s come now, and it all seems to be coming together quite well. I would actually say it most probably lends itself a bit more towards street tracks than it does towards a track like Austin. So, it’s good to have it before then.
“Honestly, it’s a little bit of an unknown. I think on the simulator, it’s quite hard to see. You can feel the differences, but in terms of a lap time improvement, I think it will vary track to track what it actually gives us. I’d say it’s a bit more experimentation, because it is this weekend. I don’t think this is a circuit that normally suits us.”
Elaborating on his comment of “experimentation” he clarified that the team would not be writing off the weekend in favour of perfecting the upgrades. Instead he explained that the goal was to better understand its effects and find how to leverage it for the remainder of the season.
“I don’t think it’s a track we’ve ever, at least at my time being here, we’ve ever gone by that.” He said. “So, that’s the whole ethos behind the weekend, a bit more experimentation, trying to understand this new upgrade. But also, is there anything we can learn now that’s going to help us for the rest of the season?
“We’re not sacrificing this weekend, but think of it more like we’re going to need to try different things if we want to be competitive this weekend.”
When pushed on his point of Singapore not historically being a strong track for the team, Albon was asked if last weekend’s strong performance in Baku was a good omen ahead of this weekend. He explained that while the characteristics of the circuit are similar to that of Baku, the profile of the corners pose a challenge for the car.
“The trends are following similar to last year. Last year we were good in Zandvoort, we were good in Monza, actually we were pretty good in Baku last year too. We weren’t good here. So yes, you can take everything with a pinch of salt.
“On paper this track is quite similar, bumpy, low-speed corners. What’s more interesting about this track is, Baku is 90 degrees, a lot of the low-speed corners here are slightly past 90 degrees, so more 180 degree corners.
“We’ve found that we struggle a little bit more in those kinds of corners where you have to combine a bit more, turn the car a little bit more than just the 90 degrees. So long story short, it’s still quite different characteristically.”
