Williams upgrades to spark midfield step

Williams

Williams upgrades to spark midfield step

Team has only scored one point so far

Ian Parkes

Friday 29 April 2022 11:41 Updated: 14:00

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Alex Albon is confident Williams can make a step into the midfield once the FW44 has been fitted with upgrades.

It has been a difficult start to the season for the Grove-based team which has scored a solitary point so far from the opening four grands prix courtesy of Albon's 10th-place finish in Australia.

The Thai-British driver was close to adding to that tally with 11th in the weekend's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

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Albon is at least feeling at home in the car, buoyed by his results which he has no doubt will improve once updates are made.

"It feels very good and I feel really comfortable with this car, I feel confident in it," said Albon. "No matter the conditions, I feel I can push it straight away and I'm feeling good.

"Hopefully we can keep working on that. I'm still understanding the car, I'm still understanding the best way to drive it and the best way to set it up.

"But for now, it's a great place to start and, obviously, once we get updates on the car, hopefully, we can take that next step into the midfield."

Albon reveals Imola issues

Albon finished just behind the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll at Imola where overtaking proved to be at a premium given there were just 11 across the 63 laps

Up until then and over the previous year, F1 fans had been spoiled for entertainment courtesy of numerous overtakes at many circuits and battles throughout the field.

The new generation of cars has only increased the excitement levels but at Imola, F1 returned to being a tactical battle with positions gained and lost in the pits rather than through bold lunges.

Explaining the difficulties at that race, Albon added: "I still think the cars are better for overtaking, better for racing. It's just the track [Imola] is quite tricky.

"We only have one DRS point. Of course, it is not great always to have DRS overtakes but the track is hard.

"It's not really a place where you can brake late and overtake, it's all quite quick which stops the overtaking."