Alexander Albon laments lack of balance in F1 Australian GP as he feels Williams had to capitalise in such races but they couldn’t.
Having been handed the mantle to perform after his practice crash, Williams’ Albon couldn’t score in F1 Australian GP when direct rivals like Visa Cash App RB and Haas managed to score and eke out a gap in a time when it is difficult to score for smaller teams.
Albon had to take the pressure after Williams decided to give Logan Sargeant’s chassis to him due lack of spares. The Thai did all he could but the lack of balance was evident which forced them into earlier pit stops, thereby hampering his chances to score.
He was involved in some battles against the likes of Haas, Visa Cash App RB and Alpine, but eventually had to settle for 11th. “We need these races,” said Albon to media. “When you have three cars of the top teams retiring, you’ve got to capitalize on that.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace on the track that we hoped we would have. It’s been a tough weekend for all of us at Williams. I think pitting early was just disguising our lack of pace. We were trying to stay in the race by pitting early and getting back to track position, and ultimately, the pace was too strong.
“Every time I tried to match the pace of the cars around me, I would break. Because of that reason, we had to set up the car to have an inefficient balance, really. We were putting so much front into the car, just trying to stop the front from sliding. At some point, the balance is just terrible. You’re sliding on the rears, but the front is still graining.
“You’re kind of in this awkward feeling,” summed up Albon, as he feels that after three rounds Williams should be further ahead than where they are at the moment especially having focused on getting the 2024 car ready by sacrificing most of 2023.
“I don’t think we’ve got a car where we’ve got a good amount of lap time in setup,” said Albon. “There are a couple of things we can get out of it with setup, but it’s just pure lap time that we feel like we can unlock, not exactly downforce and some other things.
“But, as I said, it’s just that when you’re slightly on the back foot, everything’s coming a bit later, updates are coming later and all this kind of stuff. It feels like, truthfully, we are racing in a position we shouldn’t be in. We should be further ahead,” summed up Albon.
Here’s James Vowles explaining all that happened pre-race
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