Alexander Albon is not satisfied with the tires in Miami and sees Williams handicapped by them – competition with bigger steps than own team
According to Alexander Albon, the Formula 1 drivers almost have to manage their tires in qualifying like they do in the race in order to keep them alive over the qualifying lap. “You drive faster, but you’re slower,” the Williams driver complains after his 14th place on the grid for the Grand Prix in Miami.
“The track is too hot for these tires with all the pressure limits and such,” he says and sees Williams at a disadvantage with its set-up. The tire problems would not exactly help the set-up with less downforce and more top speed on the straights.
Because the car does not produce as much downforce, the drivers slide significantly more in the first sector, “and then the tires are completely dead in turn 11,” says Albon. “In turns 6 and 7 they just about hold, but in turn 11 they are simply dead.”
The Thai still tried to play with different variants of the outlap, but nothing helped. “On one lap the front tires are gone, so I braked in the last corner, and on the next lap the rear tires are gone,” he says. “You’re just juggling a bit. It’s difficult.”
Miami has been a tough weekend for Albon so far. In sprint qualifying, he only finished last due to track limits and then started from the pits in the sprint itself because the team had changed his set-up. As has been the case all season, he was unable to score any points with 13th place in the sprint.
Williams is one of three teams still waiting for its first points of the season. You get the feeling that the FW46 is just floating along in the field and can no longer provide the highlights that at least its predecessor always did. “That’s a fair assessment,” says Albon.
“It’s better in most corners, but there are definitely areas where the rear is a little more unstable than last year,” he says of his current service vehicle, which is somewhat more balanced than the FW45, which excelled above all with top speed.
The fact that this year’s car is not as strong is more due to the fact that Racing Bulls and Haas in particular have made gains. “We’ve made a step forward, but it’s relative,” says the Williams driver, who has a few regrets.
After all, he had actually had a strong weekend in China, but in the end the best he could achieve was twelfth place – and therefore no points. “That’s frustrating,” he says, but believes that the car has the potential to regularly finish in the points.
“The performance is there,” he says. But it’s just a question of when and how Williams can unleash it. One obstacle so far has been that Williams has been late all year and didn’t even have a replacement chassis until Miami. “We haven’t brought a real upgrade yet, so we’re falling behind,” said Albon.
