Alex Albon has contended that Williams beating Ferrari in Miami was not a “total outlier”, though he believes it will be tough to replicate in the short term in Formula 1.
The Grove-based squad’s sublime start to the season continued at the previous race as Albon and team-mate Carlos Sainz made it successive double-points finishes.
Albon headed Williams’ charge in fifth place as the side’s most productive weekend coincided with the Miami International Autodrome exposing Ferrari’s weaknesses.
The Anglo-Thai driver had set his sights on the Ferrari duo in the race, and his optimism wasn’t misguided as he ended up close to nine seconds ahead come the end.
But while he suspects a repeat is possible on circuits tailored to the FW47’s strengths, Albon has warned that rivals bringing updates could stall Williams’ momentum.
“I don’t want to say it’s a total outlier,” Albon told media including Motorsport Week at Imola. “I think there are other tracks out there that we’ll be OK at.
“When I think about Monza or… but there will be a few tracks that [we] will be fairly competitive, closer to the top teams.
“Miami was a bit special, though. I think really we had the pace on Ferrari. We were matching the Mercedes.
“The good thing for the most part is we capitalised pretty well on that weekend.
“That being said, all these teams now are starting to bring upgrades.
“I think this weekend is going to be one where most teams are bringing a decent upgrade. We’re not there yet, so let’s see.”
Williams poised to be looking behind, not ahead
Sainz concurred as he recognised that Williams’ choice to pivot attention to next season’s rule change will ensure that it is destined to be looking at the sides behind.
“We’ve matched Ferrari in one of the first six races,” the Spaniard cautioned.
“That you have the percentage there more or less of how often we should more or less be on that fight.
“Especially [at the] moment [when] these teams are in [the] championship fight like they are and they start developing their car and we’re not,you’ll probably get a bigger gap that will be very difficult to close.
“But also the midfield is going to upgrade some of the cars where we’re going to need to wait until a long time until we upgrade this car.
“So yeah, I think it’s going to be relatively low chance of being on that fight again.
“But I want to make sure that next time we’re on that fight, I maximise the weekend and we improve and we learn from Miami.”
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