Alexander Albon has sympathy for Logan Sargeant as he says the Williams F1 car is a difficult challenge to drive and it took him time too.
After the struggles that Sargeant faced at Williams in his rookie F1 campaign where there were calls of him losing his seat for 2024, teammate Albon came to his aide. The American only managed one points result in a year marred by silly mistakes.
Certainly he showed glimpses of good performance but it was consistent while he learnt the nuances of being in F1. As he did so, Albon stated the difficult challenge of driving the Williams car, which was not just sensitive to wind but also certain tracks/corners.
Albon explained how he took some time to understand as well and with the experience at hand, he changed his set-up which aided him during the weekends. He feels that experience helps in this case when the car is not straightforward.
He could understand the problems that Sargeant faced. “I think our car is easier to overdrive than to underdrive,” said Albon. “It’s very easy to go in too deep into a corner and lose your lap because of the front-locking problem. You have to have the experience to understand it.
“Even myself from 2022 to 2023, I’ve improved, and that’s already having a previous two years in Formula One. That’s just me understanding the Williams car, let’s say. So it is a difficult challenge. I think it’s mainly about learning the weaknesses and the strengths, and that then helping you use that to race against other people, using your weaknesses and strengths.
“For example, in 2023, we were setting up the car for a particular corner before a very long straight, to make you’re not vulnerable to getting overtaken, and it’s stuff like this that makes a big difference to our end result. Maybe it’s not always ‘optimal’ what we’ve been doing in terms of overall lap time, but we’ve been able to get the car to cross the line in a valuable position,” summed up Albon.
Here’s F1 2023 teams’ tier order: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-teams-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/
Here’s F1 2023 drivers’ tier order: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-drivers-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/
Here’s Logan Sargeant on not giving up
Here’s Williams confirming Mercedes deal beyond 2025
Here’s James Vowles still learning on the job
Here’s Alexander Albon on thriving in wanting situations
Here’s Alexander Albon on Williams 2023 car having personality
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