Williams team principal reveals the malfunction in the car which made Alex Albon’s P7 finish in Canada even more impressive

Williams team principal James Vowles recently revealed an issue in Alex Albon's car during the 2023 F1 Canadian GP.

The Thai driver had a brilliant race in Montreal as he finished seventh in the race, keeping Esteban Ocon of Alpine behind him at all times. However, his drive feels even more impressive after Vowles revealed the issue with his car.

According to Motorsport Italy, Vowles explained how Alex Albon's car had a sensor issue and the exterior temperatures of the rear tires were unknown to him and the team during the race. It was even more difficult for them since they were planning a long stint on the hard tires.

The Williams team principal explained:

"Before the race, we stripped the body of Alex's car. There was an issue which didn't affect reliability, but definitely affected performance and data. We have sensors pointing at the rear tires, which tell what's happening. They are infrared sensors, therefore contactless, but they basically tell us what the temperature of the rear tires is."

He continued:

"They're very, very useful for understanding what we're doing with the tires in the race. Especially when you try to do what we did, which is a very long stint, you want to see how the tires behave: you're leaving the ideal window Should you put more energy in? He too, like us, was blind to tire temperatures."

"It still had the internal temperature of the tires, but the external one was missing. We tried to solve the problem on the grid in the short period of time available, unfortunately without success."

However, Alex Albon did an exceptional job of changing the racing line on some turns and braked perfectly before corners to extend his tires' lives throughout the race. Vowles concluded:

"Actually, what we saw is that Alex did a great job. He changed his line in some points to get a good exit from turn 10, but also on the straight, with excellent braking performance, adjusting the modulation of the brake as the tires wore in."

The fact that the Thai driver raced 58 laps on hard tires despite not knowing crucial data about them shows how great his performance was at the Canadian GP.

---

Alex Albon delighted with Canadian GP result and thanks Williams for the upgrades

After finishing seventh in the 2023 F1 Canadian GP, Alex Albon was thrilled with the result. He took to Instagram to express his delight and wrote a message, thanking Williams for the new parts and for pushing hard during the race weekend.

“P7???? A MASSIVE thank you to the team & everyone back at the factory for all the hard work and time that was put into getting the upgrades ready for this weekend. That was fun,” he wrote.

Alex Albon is currently 12th in the drivers' championship table with seven points.