Williams on the podium? That’s what Fernando Alonso had speculated before the weekend, but the team is putting the brakes on euphoria a little
Williams are being talked up by their rivals at Monza and are talking about making it into Q3 on Saturday, but they don’t think they can challenge for the podium: “I don’t think we’re going to be the standout,” said Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance, Dave Robson.
The practice session on Friday was at least decent. Alexander Albon finished seventh, 0.624 seconds off the pace, with Logan Sargeant 16th, 1.4 seconds off the pace.
“The car was not balanced correctly in the first practice,” said Robson, “but in the second practice the drivers were much happier and we now have a car to work on overnight. There are a few things we can improve, but there are no big problems we need to solve.”
“It’s always difficult to understand the pace differences at Monza because everyone was running different programmes with different engine modes and varying slipstream,” he continues. “Nevertheless, we are pleased to have made a solid start which we can build on over the next two days.”
According to Albon, Williams runs a different programme in practice than most. “We just want to make sure we understand the medium tyre in Q2 as that will be important to prepare well and get into Q3.”
Because that’s a peculiarity of the format this weekend: Teams get fewer tyres and are forced to take the hard in Q1, the medium in Q2 and the soft in Q3.
“There are various issues I feel with the car, but nothing I can’t get to grips with,” Albon continued. “The important thing is that we are there, but I don’t want to say anything too early. For tomorrow’s third practice we need to weigh up and see what the others are doing so we understand what we want to focus on.”
Teammate Sargeant thinks it was quite difficult on Friday. He puts that down to the low downforce level, but which everyone seems to be struggling with. “We can definitely still find time, but I don’t think we were too far away either. Still, we want to make a few more steps forward,” the American said.
“I’m sure tomorrow will be about avoiding the chaos that Monza usually brings, having the tyres in the right window and putting in good laps,” he continued. “My goal for tomorrow is to go step by step. The first goal is to get into Q2 and then think about the rest. “
Then you have good weather …
What annoys the team, however, is the good weather, which is supposed to stay that way for the whole event. It’s not that they’re annoyed about the weather per se, just that it’s coming again at a time when they’re otherwise restricted by the tyre format anyway and don’t have that many sets to practice on.
“It would just be nice to have a quiet Friday and get some work done,” Robson says. “Because what we’ve had a lot of lately is rain. So when we’ve had a normal event,” meaning no sprint or alternative tyre format, “that’s been rather disrupted as well. It’s difficult. “
Feeling good after a productive day! ✌️ pic.twitter.com/nEh2gVTeVR
– Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) September 1, 2023
But how good will Williams be at Monza now? For Robson, the big question is what the other teams have done. “We had a pretty good wing here last year and maybe the others had decided they weren’t going to do it. And I guess they will have changed that approach this year.”
“But I think we’ll be okay,” he adds. “Especially in these conditions, it should fit, but I don’t think we’ll be the standout rocket. “
No more “one-trick pony “
Because Williams, and this became clear at Zandvoort last weekend at the latest, is no longer the “one-trick pony”, as they say – that is, a horse that can only do one trick. In this case, speed on the straights.
Although Williams scored points with it last year and also played to this strength in Canada, Zandvoort was a completely different type of track on which the racing team nevertheless produced arguably its best performance of the season with grid position four.
“Yes, it was a bit of a surprise,” Robson admits. “But there were some signs from the previous year as well. We were really bad on Friday and Saturday, but when the wind shifted on Sunday it was fine. And this year we had our preferred wind conditions all weekend. “
“So I don’t think the track was particularly good for the car, it was more the conditions. I think we will see a bit more up and down,” said the Williams man.
The next race in Singapore should not suit Williams on paper, but Robson can imagine that the changes to the track (four corners have been removed) could suit the team. And after that, he said, they have a “reasonable mix” of tracks between now and the end of the season.
“We just need to execute very well and get something out of it. “