Williams and their drivers Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon are fired up for the 2022 Formula 1 season, sniffing a chance of losing their backmarkers tag means excitement is high as is tension ahead of this Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Grove outfit’s performance boss Dave Robson summed up the mood ahead of the first FP1 session of the year in Sakhir on Friday: “The opening race of any season is an exciting prospect and an opportunity to understand what our rivals were doing during pre-season testing.
“This season, with substantial changes to the cars, the tension and excitement is even greater, and we won’t know the true order until Sunday night when we see which drivers are able to deliver reliable performance.”
Like all the cars on this year’s grid, the Williams FW44 is vastly different to last year’s car, the novelty factor coming with its own challenges as Robson explained: “There is no doubt that there is a lot more to learn and we will see all the 2022 cars evolving quickly over the coming weeks.
“However, our job this weekend is to get everything possible out of the race on Sunday, to continue our setup work and to complete the integration of Alex into the Team by completing our first race weekend together,” added Robson.
Albon: I’m obviously very excited for the first race of the year and to be back racing
With those words Alex began his preview of the first race of his comeback with Williams, adding: “It will be the result of all the hard work over winter and everything we’ve learnt from six days of testing, so I’m looking forward to seeing that come together and pushing as much as we can.
“The track is tricky because, as we saw in testing, it’s very windy, sandy and hot which are tough conditions to contend with. It’s a good track for racing though, so it should be an exciting weekend for F1,” added Albon.
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) March 12, 2022
Latifi: It should make for a really exciting season opener!
In the sister Williams car, Latifi begins his third season in F1, although humbled by Mercedes bound George Russell the Canadian has improved despite his infamous late-race gaffe in Abu Dhabi last year, and will provide an interesting benchmark for his new teammate.
Latifi looks forward to getting started: “It goes without saying that I’m super excited for the first race of the year. It’s been a long pre-season with a lot of effort from everybody both trackside and in the factory at Grove to build us a car to go racing with.
“I’m excited to see how we’ll do come lights-out on Sunday. We’ll be pushing for the best result possible and the fact that it’s a night race adds another unusual element to contend with. It’s tough from a tyre management perspective as the temperatures are high and track is very rough.
“We also have the added challenge of understanding how the 18-inch Pirellis cope with those conditions. It should make for a really exciting season opener!” predicted the 26-year-old.
We’re sure you’ll all be surprised to know what @NicholasLatifi‘s favourite cheat meal is…?
Watch Pt. 1 of “22 questions” with our duo! ? https://t.co/6syCZviJnf pic.twitter.com/LKJrMKyamg
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) March 14, 2022