After a good start to the championship, in which Williams was able to surprise by collecting some results beyond expectations, the Barcelona round represented a return to reality for Williams, with the drivers who underlined the current limits of the FW45.
The current single-seater, daughter of the 2022 project, does not have a high aerodynamic load and generally manages to do well on fast tracks with long straight stretches, such as Sakhir, Jeddah (especially in qualifying) and Melbourne. The Australian round depicts the biggest regret, given Alex Albon’s crash while firmly in the top ten.
Monaco showed the mechanical limits of the FW45, while Barcelona above all the aerodynamic ones. According to Alex Albon, the return to a “real” non-city track has highlighted the fact that Williams is still one step below its rivals.
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C43, Logan Sargeant, Williams FW45
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The Thai, who finished 16th in Spain, believes Williams have been “unmasked” as the slowest team currently on the grid after a better-than-expected start to the season.
“I’m happy with myself. I feel like we’ve done a good job. That’s where we’re at. We’ve had some races where the tracks have been a bit more, shall we say, characteristic – road tracks and single tracks. Coming here to Barcelona is a real trail and it exposes us a bit,” said Albon.
“It’s no secret, we’ve said it more than anyone, we’re still the 10th fastest car. This weekend proved that. We have updates coming, hopefully as soon as possible. Hopefully, once we get this increased performance , we will be able to fight in the midfield again, like at the beginning of the year.”
Alex Albon, Williams FW45
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Albon believes that the fact of riding on city tracks has also highlighted the skills of the riders, because it’s easier to invent something different in terms of driving between low walls and narrow streets. Conversely, Barcelona is one of those tracks where the teams have already completed thousands of laps in the past and, according to the Thai, the drivers have less scope to invent something in terms of driving.
“We shot on unique road courses, with characteristics where with confidence and driving you can do a little bit of everything. Here [in Spagna]where every team has done a million laps and every driver has done a million laps, it’s very difficult to break the trend and overcome it.”
“It’s quite a tricky track and most of the teams have designed their cars around this place, so it feels optimized, and it is. If you look at qualifying and how close the whole field is, we were just one step below”.
“We need some updates that will come, but until then it’s just about optimizing the car we have,” added the Thai.
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