Alex Albon said that the “pain” Williams endured during the 2024 Formula 1 season will benefit the Grove-based outfit in the future.
When James Vowles was appointed as Williams Team Principal in 2023, the Grove-based outfit took an immediate step forward, scoring 20 more points than in 2022 and vaulting from 10th to seventh in the Constructors’ standings.
Another step forward was expected in 2024, but instead, Williams took a step back in terms of point scoring, going from 28 to 17 and sliding back to ninth in the standings.
Despite the apparent rearward progress in 2024, Albon argued to the media during the Qatar Grand Prix press conference that Williams maintained an upward trajectory.
“I think that last year [2023] we finished P7 in the Constructors’ Championship and I wouldn’t say we were always the seventh quickest car,” he said.
“I think we really took advantage and made the most of what we had.
“[2024] feels in some ways the opposite. I think that we’ve been on the back foot since race one.
“I think it’s a known story now, the car wasn’t on weight and we were on the back foot from the beginning and then we missed out on capitalising when we should have.
“Teams like Alpine, they’re on their third, fourth upgrade now.
“We did one major one, I would say, this year, and let’s say where we are now is kind of expected in terms of pace.
“But I think we’ve just missed out a little bit. All for good reasons, though.
“I really think that a lot of the reasons why we’ve been on the back foot is just because we’ve made so many big changes back at Grove, which are going to help us definitely in the future, but possibly a little bit of short-term pain for now.”
Analysing Williams’ 2024 campaign
Vowles has long been adamant that his focus is on preparing Williams for a stronger future and if that means sacrificing the present, then so be it.
The offseason ahead of the 2024 campaign saw Vowles and Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry commit Williams to make drastic changes not only to car philosophy, eradicating the peaky characteristics of the FW45 but also changes back at the team’s Grove Headquarters.
Infrastructure, design and manufacturing processes and data gathering were all targeted points Vowles and Fry sought to improve, including the shocking revelation that Williams was using Excel spreadsheets to process listed parts during car builds.
Revolutionising the way Williams works delayed production ahead of the 2024 season and it came in overweight.
The weight issue cost Williams several tenths and took many months to overturn and the only real performance upgrade came at the Dutch GP in August.
However, the disrupted pre-season meant Williams started 2024 without a spare chassis, a factor that became prevalent when Alton wrote off his car during practice for the Australian GP.
That prompted Vowles to withdraw Logan Sergeant from the remainder of the weekend and place Albon in his car instead.
Just as Williams looked to be turning a corner later in the year, a series of high-speed crashes for Albon and stand-in Franco Colapinto saw the team’s mechanics scramble to continually rebuild cars.
This diverted time, money and resources away from preparing for 2025 to ensure it had cars on the grid for the final races of 2024.
Why Alex Albon and Williams can expect more in 2025
The year of strife Williams endured was perhaps a necessary evil.
That was precisely the point Albon was trying to make and the off-season changes made ahead of 2024 could prove the most vital.
The hurt Williams endured by radicalising its car-building process should pay dividends moving forward.
This winter there’s no need to overhaul the process, that teething trouble has been done and Williams should hope for a smoother preparation for this year’s campaign.
On the performance front, learnings from the FW46 should help Williams recover some ground on track and the arrival of Carlos Sainz brings a driver capable of challenging for points regularly.
READ MORE – Alex Albon: Williams ‘overdid’ areas on 2024 F1 car amid biggest changes in ‘seven years’
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