Alex Albon on how regulation changes can help Williams

Alex Albon has recently signed a new deal with Williams.

Alex Albon believes that the new measures being implemented in Formula 1 could help his Williams team climb up the order as they seek to lift themselves off the bottom of the standings.

Albon has scored points on two occasions in 2022, and his three points are the only ones the Grove-based side have managed this year.

They have not finished in the top 10 since Miami, although Albon was unlucky not to make Q3 in Austria, before Nicholas Latifi qualified 10th in Silverstone, finishing the race 12th.

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The Thai-Briton has generally impressed thus far in 2022, out-qualifying his Canadian team-mate 11 times, beating him in race trim in 10 of the opening 13.

It follows a year out of the pinnacle of motorsport last year after his Red Bull departure, so he brought some useful experience to the side, and this might be a key factor to developing the car.

Also influential could be the technical directive introduced at the Canadian Grand Prix, though which the FIA can measure “porpoising” and bouncing, and force teams to raise the ride height of their car if it is oscillating too much.

They have also banned moving skid blocks, and all of these changes will be brought in at the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August.

While partially aimed at safety, the disappearance moving blocks will help to even out the field, leaving a sense of optimism at Williams.

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“The way I see it now is that [the rest of the season is] a really good opportunity for teams to bounce back [and] make up ground quickly,” Albon told the GoF1 show.

“The way these cars are, it’s so open, the concepts are so new, you can see a team like us – we’ve changed completely the philosophy of the car within six months.

“In previous-generation cars, you spent year-on-year refining what you had, you got yourself almost in a hole because you exploited every single part of the car you could over five years of never changing anything.

“Now’s the time when, with such a new generation of car, you can really make big decisions, big changes and play catch-up very quickly, I say why not?

“We know as a team where we are struggling, what type of corners we lose out in compared to other people. 

“We know the reason why, it’s not something we are scratching our heads about.

“So that gives us a clear direction to go towards if we can get that. Why not? Why can’t we score points more regularly towards the end of the season?”

Albon was catapulted into the Red Bull team to replace the struggling Pierre Gasly after just half a season at Toro Rosso and, why 2020, he was expected to play a key role in developing the car alongside Max Verstappen.

The now 26-year-old raced in DTM in 2021 after he too experienced a tough 2020, and was replaced at the Austrian side by Sergio Perez.

Now though, he is a more confident and rounded racing driver due to his work with Red Bull, which has had a positive effect on both him and his team.

“I enjoy it, I feel like it’s a different kind of role I’ve played this year compared to previous years,” explained Albon.

“Obviously, when I came into Formula 1 I really felt like I was just learning everything, everything was happening so quickly.

“I went straight into Red Bull within six months, and it was like… I wouldn’t say I was expected to know everything, but I had to be on top of my A-game if I was to perform.

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“Time is so valuable and you can’t take it for granted. 

“I feel like during the one year I had away from the sport, that’s almost three years by that point being involved around F1, I’ve come back much more experienced, much more mature.”

Albon went to an established, race-winning side in 2019 when he joined Red Bull, but it has been many years since the Williams team tasted success – Pastor Maldonado’s win in 2012 remains their last.

As a result, Albon finds that driver input is more important at Williams than it was at his previous team.

“I feel the team rely on my feedback much more than Red Bull,” he affirmed.

“We are a growing team, we are not where we want to be, we have goals to go forward into the future. 

“A lot of that is the feedback I give to the team and I know how a championship-winning team do things.

“We need to play some catch-up and what I can give to the team is some knowledge and some stuff Red Bull did differently to Williams that I hope I can bring to the team for us to speed that process up.”

Albon has made Q2 four times so far in 2022, three of them in the last five races. The closest he has come to points since Miami is P12 in Baku and Austria.