Albon: “many points lost at the start of the season”
The Thai, eighteenth in the championship with four points, regrets the Williams' lack of competitiveness at the start of the season due to the car being too heavy. A problem which seems to have cost the Grove team precious points.
After a 2023 season marked by progress compared to 2022, the team led by James Vowles entered this new season with high ambitions, hoping to compete with the midfield teams. Unfortunately, after fourteen races, Williams disappoints and falls back in the hierarchy, occupying the ninth place in the constructors’ standings, only ahead of the Sauber team. These underwhelming performances can be partially explained by a car that exceeded the regulatory weight at the beginning of the season, according to Alexander Albon.
A car too heavy to start 2024
« It is fair to say that we are a bit disappointed compared to our expectations. I feel that if we had been on weight from the beginning of the year, we could have scored more points. We simply struggled », explained the former Red Bull driver. Indeed, the Grove team had fallen behind in the design of the FW46 during the off-season, which forced it to start the season in Bahrain with a car that was too heavy compared to the 798 kg regulatory weight set by the FIA.
This problem has led to others. During the free practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix, Albon lost control of his car, damaging his chassis severely. That weekend, Williams did not have a spare chassis, opting to cut costs to focus on solving various issues, including reducing weight. The team therefore decided to run only one car for the rest of the weekend, entrusting Logan Sargeant’s chassis to Albon. This episode illustrates the challenges faced by the British team at the beginning of the season, difficulties that have likely cost valuable points in the standings.
According to Albon, the team missed several opportunities to score points at the beginning of the season, notably finishing eleventh twice at the Saudi Arabian and Australian Grand Prix, due to a car that was too heavy and difficult to drive, losing up to four tenths of a second per lap. This situation particularly frustrated the Thai driver.
« It was complicated, as I was often asked what the difference was compared to last year’s car, and I would say that it was better, but still, we were P19 and P20. I had to refrain from saying that it was mainly because of the weight that the car was not performing well. There are other areas to improve, I don’t deny that, but this situation was really difficult,” he recently told the media. According to him, even though this year’s car is better, the performance could not improve as long as the weight remained an issue, hindering both drivers from performing well.
A single-seater now easier to drive
Since then, the situation at Williams appears to be improving, with the team getting closer to scoring points, as evidenced by Albon’s ninth place at Silverstone. This improvement is partly due to the introduction of a new floor during the Imola weekend, which allowed to reduce the weight of the car slightly and improve its on-track behavior. However, with only four points scored since the beginning of the season, the 2024 campaign remains disappointing in light of the ambitions expressed by the team.
However, Williams is actively preparing for the future. The team has recruited many engineers from rival teams and, most importantly, has confirmed the arrival of Carlos Sainz from next year, for several seasons. These reinforcements should enable Williams to quickly return to the top in Formula 1.
