Albon: Chicane removal will boost Williams’ Spanish GP chances

Alex Albon is hopeful that the removal of the final chicane at the Barcelona circuit will boost Williams’ chances at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Following several changes ahead of the 2021 event, this year’s race weekend has seen further alterations made with the removal of the tight left-right chicane that previously made up Turns 14 and 15 in a bid to improve overtaking opportunities.

The chicane was added before the 2007 race on the basis of safety grounds, but plans were finalised earlier this year to return to the track layout that will see the drivers navigate through two sweeping right-hand turns before arriving on the start-finish straight.

Whereas the chicane’s demand for good mechanical grip had provided a regular hindrance to Williams in recent years, the return of the circuit layout to its original configuration should play more favourably to the strengths of its slippery FW45 car.

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After a difficult race for both drivers in Monaco last time out, Albon hopes the amended circuit will inspire a better result for a Williams side that hasn’t scored a point on Spanish soil for seven years.

“Yeah, it was a tricky race, but we looked back on it, we did a race review on it, and honestly P14 that was kind of where we were,” he professed. “I was really surprised that no one crashed, I was expecting more carnage, but everyone kept it on the track.

“It is what it is, it feels like it was never going to be a track that totally suited us, but coming now into Barcelona, I don’t want to say another track that doesn’t suit us, but a track that historically hasn’t gone too well for us.

“What’s interesting is hopefully this last chicane: taking this away from us should make us more competitive because we never really went very well around that.”

With the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya issuing a reasonable benchmark for teams to assess the competitiveness of their current cars, many sides have opted to bring significant upgrade packages this weekend.

However, when asked if Williams will introduce any new parts to its 2023 charger, Albon responded: “No upgrades here. More about learning our package still.

“Ours are coming, not here, a bit later on. We’ll keep an eye out for other teams [and] what their upgrades are like, but for us right now, just making the most of what we’ve got.”

The reduction in the track’s length from 4.675km with the chicane to 4.657km in its current form will ensure track times drop significantly this weekend.

Max Verstappen led the way in FP1, posting a time of 1:14.606s – over five seconds quicker than the fastest time set in the same session a year ago.

Logan Sargeant was marginally the quicker of the two Williams participants in the opening hour of action; the American classified 19th, while Albon wound up last of all.