The Las Vegas Grand Prix demands top speed, so Alexander Albon believes his Williams FW45 has a good chance: “The stars are aligned “
Alexander Albon believes that his Williams Formula 1 team will have a good chance of scoring some points at the upcoming race in Las Vegas. The Thai driver expects the low temperatures and the long straights to play to the FW45’s strengths. Qualifying starts at midnight, the race at 10pm, and ambient temperatures are expected to be between five and ten degrees.
“Hopefully the stars are aligned in Las Vegas,” says Albon. “It’s a track that should suit us in terms of layout, but it should also suit us in terms of temperature. I think qualifying will be of great interest to everyone to try and get the tires working in these temperatures. It really won’t be easy. But it will suit us a lot more.”
Albon admits that the only downside could be that some corners could encourage front end lock-up, which has been a weakness of the Williams package this year. He also notes that the team simulator doesn’t necessarily give a complete picture of the actual track surface.
Albon: Will see a lot of overtaking maneuvers
“The layout of the track is quite simple, it’s easy to learn,” he says. “The track is quite interesting, there are some combined corners where it’s not easy to block at the front, which is not so good for our car, but that’s fine.”
“It will be interesting to see how rough the track is and what bumps there are, and whether the drivers have done a good job or not. Also, I think there will be a lot of overtaking maneuvers, because at least from what I’ve ridden, there are a lot of opportunities, a lot of places where you can overtake. So let’s see, but it’s okay. I didn’t really mind. “
Curves before the straights too slow?
However, Albon limits his expectations of the overtaking opportunities by pointing out that the corners before the straights could be too slow: “In terms of layout, the straights are absolutely massive,” he says. “In Mexico, for example, there should be more overtaking than there is. I mean, there’s a huge straight.”
“But the way Sector 3 is designed is not good for racing. That’s why it’s so hard to stay close coming out of the last corner. There’s an example of this in Vegas, where technically there should be an overtaking opportunity on the straight, but the corners in front don’t allow you to get that close. “
“Everyone thinks it’s the high-speed corners where it’s harder to get close. But that’s not true, it’s the slow corners where we struggle to stay close because the front end of these cars is so difficult, especially when the cars are so heavy.”
“As soon as you lose the front end at low speeds, you’re gone. But in Vegas, especially coming out of the last corner towards turn one, it’s not that hard to stay close. So I think there will be a lot of overtaking maneuvers. I hope it’s not too easy. “
Sargeant at the third home race: “Cool thing “
Albon’s team-mate Logan Sargeant, for whom Las Vegas will be his third home race, is also optimistic about the prospects for the weekend: “The high temperatures aren’t helping us,” says the American. “I think, especially in Las Vegas, the low temperatures, night racing and low drag will hopefully work.”
“For me, of course, it will be a really cool thing. I raced there so many times as a kid and it will be great to come back here. I’ve always been treated well there in the past and I hope that continues this year. “
