With Alex Albon’s Formula 1 future assured with Williams, the Thai driver is confident he can grow into the team leader role as his mind is no longer on survival.
In a nutshell, Albon’s arrival in F1 was at first unexpected, then meteoric as within a matter of months he had gone from Toro Rosso to Red Bull in his rookie season. History shows it was too much too soon and as a result, in 2021 there was no place for Albon in the top flight.
He returned with Williams, on a multi-year deal, in 2022 and impressed despite a tricky Williams at his disposal, with Nicholas Latifi as his teammate.
The latter was made to look unfit for F1 by Albon, much as George Russell had a year earlier, who had to find his own benchmark.
Furthermore, the FW44 was not an easy car to drive, which Albon acknowledged to Motorsport Netwrok: “It’s a tricky one, because the car can be much quicker with the right balance to it.
“It feels like at the minute, we’re quite restricted on performance just because of how we’re tied in at some places. Certain tracks really expose us, like Brazil or Mexico. But I know for a fact what we need to do to the car. We’ve just got to find it, really.
“There’s no easy given that we’re going to just be able to say we need this in the car and we’ll be able to get it. There’s a lot of correlation that needs to be correct.
“There’s a lot of different departments in the factory that we need to get moving and into the right direction together. And that’s going to be the aim for the winter.”
2022 was a testing year at Williams for Albon to return to F1
Always playing catch-up last season, Williams focused early on the 2023 car which could benefit Albon and his new teammate Logan Sargeant.
Albon explained: “My focus a lot of the time was really about surviving in F1, or focusing on that kind of performance side on my side.
“Whereas now that I have that kind of stability and focus into the future, a lot of it is now turning its attention more to, OK, how do we bring this forward with the team? Where does the development need to go?
“Of course, I’ve got a new teammate as well. I want us both to work together to speed up the development, and to do that, you need to get Logan also up to speed in terms of his development to be able to give feedback and push in the areas that we need to push.
“Two people pushing for the same thing, that really builds synergy. Teams start to have a good dynamic where you’re all pushing for the same thing,” added 26-year-old Albon, 2023 will be his fourth season in F1.