Williams set the fastest time of any team in pre-season testing but Alexander Albon believes the contest for quickest car in the midfield is between them and Alpine.
Albon downplayed more optimistic assessments of Williams’ performance after his new team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr set the quickest time of anyone in Bahrain two weeks ago.“We had a good test,” Albon told the official F1 channel. “Obviously the results are as they are, but we know that’s testing.
“I’m sure we were running a little bit more ‘performant’ in terms of fuel loads and engine modes than maybe some other teams. The fight’s in the midfield for us.”
Williams endured a difficult start to last season when their car was initially over the minimum weight limit. But Albon said the team has done well with their new FW47 chassis.
“The car feels like it’s in a good place in terms of [being] on-weight, parts and everything else,” he said. “I think the team have done a fantastic job.”
The team’s target is to lead the midfield group behind likely front-runners McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes, said Albon. “We have to be realistic, I think Alpine are looking very strong as well. Maybe a little bit stronger.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
However, with little to separate the midfield runners, Albon expects the competitive picture “will change from race to race.”
“Some tracks will benefit us, some tracks will benefit them. RB [Racing Bulls] look strong as well. Haas, you never know where they’re going to be. I’m obviously talking about the midfield battle here.
“Whatever it is, it’s very tight. I think between the spread, it’s a tenth [of a second] and a half between all of us, so it’s close.”
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
Go ad-free for just £1 per month
>> Find out more and sign up
2025 Australian Grand Prix
- Contact with team mate may have led to Bortoleto’s Australian GP crash
- Hamilton dismisses ‘negativity’ over his radio calls. ‘Other drivers are almost abusive’
- Antonelli “got really scared” when he made “big save” on first lap of Australian GP
- Williams explain role played by car’s systems in Sainz’s race-ending crash
- Norris is only driver besides Verstappen to win back-to-back races since 2021
Coventry Climax
13th March 2025, 9:25
Err, I think ALL cars are above the MINIMUM weight limit, and not just INITIALLY.
Sure, it’s clear what’s meant here, but – imho – still a rather silly choice of words.
If Williams want to make progress getting back at the top, being ahead of the midfield should be their minimum aim this year. At times, they probably already were there last year already, so now they will need to make that more consistent and not or not too much, like Albon says, dependent on which circuit they race on. That’s car related. Sure, the other teams have made progress as well, but driver related, they have two decent drivers this year, which hasn’t happenend for them in a long time.
El Pollo Loco
13th March 2025, 16:58
To be fair, Albon’s statement is mischaracterized by the headline. He only said “Alpine is also looking strong. Maybe even a little bit stronger.” I’d call that a strong vote of confidence in the Williams rather than downplaying expectations.
What’s good about this car (and why they had such trouble early and then at the end) is last year’s car was 100% new and designed with the intention to be strong everywhere and not just a simple, slippery car that went well as fast tracks as long as it wasn’t too windy (lol).
It would’ve been safe + easy to stick w/the 2023 chassis since specializing at one type of track can an actually be a good strategy for a midfield team when the bottom 5 are only going to get a few good chances to score each season (AMR’s regression changed that though). But they didn’t and the new car was much more complicated, which forced the team to really push itself/learn and develop. It also helped ID their biggest weak spots. All of which speaks of ambition. Anyway, 2025’ll be an equally big test for Alex. If he’s close to Sainz, he’ll have a spot on the grid for years to come.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
13th March 2025, 19:39
Oh no the minimum weight argument again