Williams is going through a “terrible period” according to Alex Albon
The Williams family had another tough weekend in Las Vegas. Alex Albon admits that Williams is going through a "terrible period" after his retirement in Las Vegas. While Franco Colapinto looks back on a "really difficult race" after his accident in qualifying.
Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto expressed their frustration after another difficult weekend for Williams at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Albon acknowledged that the team is going through a terrible, terrible period lately, leaving once again without scoring any points.
The race had started well for the Thai driver, who had gained several positions from his 17th place on the grid, finding himself in contention for points after the first pit stops. However, his progress was abruptly halted when he had to retire on the 25th lap, due to a suspected issue with the powertrain. This retirement adds to a series of difficult weekends for Williams, marked by a lack of points and several major accidents over the past three races.
« It’s frustrating,” Albon confided after his retirement. « I feel like we are going through a terrible period lately. It’s really frustrating. I was excited for this race, I thought we could score good points, which would have been a nice reward for the team, especially the mechanics and all the personnel at the factory for their hard work in recent weeks. Unfortunately, it was not our day. Another disappointment to add to the list, but I hope we will come back stronger in Qatar. »
Despite the disappointing result, Albon was encouraging about the performance of his FW46, before retiring: “I was quite comfortable. I had to let Nico [Hülkenberg] pass, but I was satisfied with my pace. I felt like I could do better. We were moving up in the pack, gaining a lot of positions, but well…”
The same observation for Colapinto.
On his side, Franco Colapinto had a decent recovery race after starting from the pit lane following his serious accident during Friday’s qualifications. The team worked tirelessly to repair his car in time. Despite their efforts, the Argentine could not reach the points zone and finished in 14th place.
“It was a tough race,” Colapinto said. “There was a lot of dirty air, the tires were tricky to manage, with a lot of graining on the front tires. The strategy was also delicate. I lost quite a bit of time in the first stint, but then we did a good job and the pace was decent on the next two.”
Reflecting on his crash in qualifying, he added: « It was tough, really tough. But luckily, these cars are now very safe, and after some rest last night, I was ready. The car was not at its best, but the team did an incredible job to repair it. They barely slept, and it’s for them that I raced today. They deserved a better result, but we will fight to do better in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.”
