"It allows me to know which direction to go"- Alex Albon on how Red Bull's 'experience' is helping him at Williams

Alex Albon believes his experience at Red Bull helped him develop the Williams car better in terms of set-up. He feels his experience working with Max Verstappen in the 2021 season is helping him understand their car technically.

Speaking in an exclusive to RacingNews365, the Williams driver said:

“The experience at Red Bull helps, because I now understand what a car needs to go fast: A good feeling at the front is always good, but it’s the overall feeling that should be nice. It allows me to know which direction to go with the set-up. I have already had to use that experience and gained a lot this year.”

With a season of development and simulation under his belt at the Red Bull camp in 2021, Alex Albon believes his experience has helped Williams develop their car better this season. The Thai-British driver feels his experience from 2021 has helped him a lot in understanding setups and being able to extract maximum performance from the car. Working with Verstappen, he was able to understand how the front end of the car can be tweaked to its maximum to suit a certain driving style.

Explaining the similarities of working with both teams, the Williams driver said:

“We basically have the same thing. These [now 18-inch] tyres are bigger and more air is moved around them aerodynamically - and then there’s also the problem with the floor design. We still struggle at low speed, especially compared to the top teams. We know exactly what we want: we want more grip at the front. At low speed more [grip] at the front and in high speed [corners] a little more grip at the rear, that’s the goal. But we’re a bit limited in our options at the moment and, like with Max, you want more grip at the front so you can really get all the performance out of the car. That’s what we want, and we see it there if we find the right balance. It’s not easy, you drive a lot more at the limit, because the cars have the most downforce in the world.”

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Alex Albon reckons Williams can perform better

The former Red Bull driver feels the Williams team can perform more consistently and at a higher level than they had in 2022. Alex Albon believes the Grove-based outfit has improved from their previous season but lacks pace in comparison to their rivals Haas and Alfa Romeo. At the moment, the 26-year-old feels the team has no choice but to capitalize on the opportunities they get when their rivals underperform.

Evaluating Williams’ performance throughout the 2022 season, Alex Albon said:

“Williams can do better, much better. If you look at the races where we’ve scored points [Australia, Miami, Belgium], we’ve really maximized [our potential]. At the other races, you see P11, P12, P13, always somewhere around there. Realistically, though, those results come about via DNFs [of other drivers] or by consistent driving and good work [on our side]. Compared to last year, I think we are starting in about the same position. What is the case now, however, is that Haas and Alfa Romeo have a bit more pace than they had last year. I think we are doing well. take advantage of the teams that are struggling: that will take us to Q2 or that will take us to a points finish. But of course, we want more.”

Unable to race in Monza due to an emergency appendicitis surgery, Alex Albon was replaced by Nyck De Vries for the 2022 F1 Italian GP. Despite complications post-surgery, the Thai-British driver is in a rush to recover and prepare himself for the physically challenging Singapore GP this weekend.