Alex Albon put on another impressive display around the Albert Park Circuit in Australia, as he secured P8 on the grid.
Having been as high as P2 during the qualifying sessions, Albon showed how close the Formula 1 field truly is, putting the Williams in contention for points.
“We came into this weekend… we worked hard on it,” Albon said. “It was just one of those very smooth sessions.”
“We are not your normal Formula One car. We are very efficient when we remove downforce.
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“We’re actually still quite good in the high speed. It’s the low speed where we lose out on. Around here, there’s only two or three low speed points,” he added.
Albon is optimistic about the team’s ability to secure some good points on Sunday but remains realistic that he’ll struggle to move forward as they “have the big dogs in front.”
“Realistically thinking, we’d love to have one eye in front of us but there are quicker cars behind us,” Albon told Sky Sports.
Albon’s teammate Logan Sargeant missed out on a chance at a similarly strong start on Sunday, crashing out in P1 by just 0.086 seconds.
Sargeant will line up in P18, with the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull of Sergio Perez behind him.
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The American driver has struggled in qualifying sessions this season, having started in P16 in Bahrain and P20 in Saudi Arabia.
In Australia last year, Albon secured the final point available after being disqualified from qualifying, as he showed his ability to perform around this track.
Williams put Albon on hard tyres and within 40 laps, he had moved through the field to secure seventh before taking his mandatory pit stop on lap 57 and dropping back to 10th by the time he passed the chequered flag.