Alex Albon has admitted Williams “overdid” several areas on its 2024 Formula 1 car as a consequence of the team committing to its biggest changes in “seven years”.
Williams‘ endeavour to reduce its recent historic dependence on low-downforce tracks to amass points saw the team elect to overhaul its car concept over the winter.
But although it succeeded in eliminating past long-standing limitations to assemble a more well-rounded package, Williams has encountered a challenging campaign.
The Grove-based squad started the season with an overweight car, while various expensive shunts have also had an impact on the team’s scope to develop the FW46.
Williams experienced another blow in the previous round in Brazil as Alpine’s double podium has all but consigned it to ninth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
However, Albon has conceded that Williams’ strive to eradicate the constraints that had put a limit on its competitiveness has caused new issues to prop up this term.
“Look at this way, there’s areas where we really focused on, we made a priority to fix,” Albon told media including Motorsport Week. “Which for a lot of the parts we have fixed.
“There are other areas that have come up now which were not an issue which are now an issue, so I would say this year the car’s changed more than it ever has in the previous six or seven years at Williams, in terms of philosophy and the feeling to drive it.”
Albon, though, has stated that he is not concerned as he highlighted that Williams has understood it has gone too extreme in some directions compared to the FW45.
“There are some areas we’ve overdone it and we kind of need to come back a little bit, but that’s a good thing,” he continued.
“I think we’re not quite there yet, it’s going to take us a little bit more time to really define where we want the car to be.
“What’s positive is that we’ve actually been able to achieve it though.
“It’s not like we’ve had an idea and we’ve failed and we’re still scratching our heads. We know where we need to go quicker.”
Williams balancing short and long-term progress
Williams boss James Vowles has cautioned the team might sustain a relative step back next season as it aims to be competitive once new regulations arrive in 2026.
However, Albon has acknowledged there will be lessons that Williams can derive from the current ground effect cars that will be essential heading into the rules reset.
Asked about Williams’ heightened emphasis on the team’s long-term prospects versus the short-term potential, Albon said: “A lot of it still goes hand in hand.
“So if you think about what we’re learning on the car, our limitations on the car, we still need to fix them for 2026 or whenever it may be.
“So there’s a lot of stuff in terms of maybe concept design that we maybe put people onto that than onto the current car, let’s say.
“But there’s still some big areas that we need to focus on with our car to make sure that we’re fixing them for years to come. So there’s a trade between whatever we learn now also helps us in the future, but also there’s some things where we need to spend more time focused on the future to bring us some more results later on.”
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