Williams finished 10th in last year’s Constructors’ Championship, scoring just eight points, 27 fewer than their closest rivals AlphaTauri.
Alex Albon stressed that he and newcomer to the team, rookie Logan Sargeant, will have to work closely together to help develop the new FW45, which will be finalized next week.
However, he admitted it won’t be easy, as the team need to make huge strides since last year to get back on track.
“Obviously Logan comes in with a new experience or, let’s say, less experience than someone like me,” said Albon. “But it’s like trying to stay connected to reality. A lot of it is just about working together. We have a long way to go, realistically speaking.”
“We’ve been driving in the simulator for a month and we’re making progress. The main thing is that the feedback is the same – we have similar areas where we want the car to improve. So we’re working on that.”
“And as we’ve already said, it’s a real team effort to get the car up. We need to be open and honest about our position and see how the situation develops in Bahrain.”
Albon doesn’t want to make predictions about what the team’s potential will be in 2023.
The Williams FW44 in 2023 livery
Photo by: Williams
“It’s hard to say. I’d say we’re definitely in a better position than at the end of last year. But I don’t know how this translates into the track, I don’t know how big a step forward the others will make.”
“Only time will tell. When you’re driving in a simulator, there are a lot of things that can be misleading, correlations and more, you never know. So, for now, we’re in a better position. But it’s hard to tell where are we?”
Commenting on the key areas that needed improvement for this year, he added: “There were clear weaknesses in the car. It’s not just me saying this, Nicky (Latifi) last year too, and Logan who drove the car last year too. There were some pretty obvious weaknesses in the car.”
“I can say that the low-speed front lock was a big problem for us last year, and we are trying to fix it and understand why that was the case.”
“In these areas there is a common goal to improve the car, not just for me. The goals are pretty clear. And, as I said, Logan had similar feedback last year too, he knows the car’s problems, it’s not entirely new to him the feeling of the car. He can understand where the car needs to be faster. So everyone is involved in the development and in trying to solve the weaknesses that we had.”
Alex Albon, Williams
Photo by: Williams
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