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Alex Albon drove a sensational race at the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix. He managed the entire race on a single set of hard C2 tires before pitting on the penultimate lap for his mandatory stop.
On the F1 Nation podcast, the Thai-British driver spoke about the analysis required to understand why the car seems to perform best on the C2 tires. He also spoke about how successful strategies such as the one in Melbourne can be employed again to benefit the team in terms of championship points. Albon said:
“There’s a lot of analysis that we need to do right now. We need to understand what’s going on, because we tend to always make a good jump from FP3 to qualifying and we always seem to do well on the C2. It means that there’s potential in the car and we need to unlock that.”
Describing his experience in Melbourne, Alex Albon added, saying:
“It’s weird because the car was just getting better and better! Honestly, I don’t know what it is, but we are really good on that tyre. It happened in Jeddah, it happened a little bit in Bahrain. It’s our good one. I was saying to the guys, ‘We really need to come into Imola with 13 sets of primes (Hards) and just go racing!’ We seem to like it, and I don’t know what it is about it.”
He emphasized that the single point achieved by his tenth-place finish at the Australian Grand Prix has been a significant source of motivation for the team. Claiming that it had given Williams the boost of momentum it so desperately desired to move ahead in the season, Albon said:
“More than anything, we’ve had a tough start to the season – there’s no hiding that. But there’s a lot of motivation, there’s a lot of desire. There’s a lot of dedication in the team back at Grove, but also at the track. I feel like that’s a reward for everything we’ve done. It feels great to give something and it’s just a great morale booster.”
Williams took ten races to score their first points of the season in 2021, so this result is certainly a huge deal for the team this year.
Alex Albon assumes the role of a team leader at Williams
Alex Albon has had an unusual journey into F1 having entered the sport as a driver for Red Bull's sister team AlphaTauri. The young driver was promoted to Red Bull before even completing a season with the Italian outfit to partner Max Verstappen, who would become world champion. He has certainly played a significant role in his previous teams, but at Williams, Albon claims he feels more like a team leader.
Reflecting upon his position on the Wantage-based outfit, he said:
“It’s a different position than I was in with Red Bull and I feel, more than anything, like I’m a bit more of a team leader. I feel like I have to use my experience in the best way possible and develop the car with Nicky [Latifi]. I guess I feel like I’ve had a year to mature. I don’t think I could have done that in 2020 or 2019. I feel like I’m in a better position now. So I’m enjoying it. It’s a new challenge for me.”
Alex Albon has embraced this new challenge at Williams exceptionally well and taken the team a step forward faster than George Russell managed to in his years with the team.
