Alex Albon is determined to help Williams narrow the gap to Alpine and other leading teams in the 2024 season after the team secured a seventh-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship the previous year.
Williams has unveiled an eye-catching ‘heritage’ livery for their 2024 vehicle. The year 2023 marked a significant improvement for Williams, positioning them well above the bottom of the leaderboard, a notable improvement from their 10th-place finish in 2022, where they lagged significantly behind.
The team managed to earn 20 points more last season compared to the year before, indicating that under the leadership of Team Principal James Vowles, the team is on an upward trajectory.
Vowles, who joined Williams from Mercedes before the start of the last season, has been instrumental in revitalizing the storied team’s competitive edge.
Albon’s performance was a highlight last season, with noteworthy qualifications in Q3 and top 10 finishes in races, drawing attention from top teams like Mercedes and Red Bull.
Following the reveal of their new car for 2024, the FW46, Vowles made the unexpected announcement that Albon is signed through to the end of 2025. This implies Albon is set to stay with Williams for the near future unless negotiations lead to a different outcome.
With this in mind, Albon is already setting his sights on achievements for 2024 and beyond, aiming particularly to close the gap with Alpine. Last year, Alpine finished sixth, a whole 92 points ahead of Williams, setting a clear target for Albon and his team to aspire to.
Albon speaking to the media stated that his ultimate aim is to secure podium finishes and wins for Williams, though he acknowledges that achieving this might not be feasible in 2024.
“I would say when you look at where we finished last year. we were P7, we did kind of best of the rest, let’s say in that lower midfield section, and we just about held off AlphaTauri, Haas, and Alfa Romeo.
“When you actually look at the gap to P6 and P5 there’s still quite a big jump. You know when you actually consider how Alpine did, and then you’ve got a rather substantial gap to the Astons, McLaren, and the Mercs, and you’re basically in the top field by that point.
“I want to be fighting in that kind of nipping on the heels of Alpine and that top group.
“I think that’s a realistic performance expectation for us as a team and let’s see how it unfolds because, like I said, we finished P7, but we actually had quite a big gap to P6, and we still have to close and try to overtake.”
“I want podiums and wins. I think realistically, we won’t be there this year,” He admitted. “If it can be regularly in the points, that will be great. I’m also really interested to see how we fare in tracks that we weren’t good at last year.
“So if you think about Monza, the US, Canada, Silverstone, high-speed tracks, we know we were going to be good at them and I don’t see how this year will be any different.
“But with the change of approach with our car, we need to be consistent to be that kind of top six, top five team, which we weren’t last year, and I’m very interested to see how we fare on the tracks where we struggled, Monaco, Barcelona, these kind of places.”
