Alexander Albon is ready for his return to racing in Formula 1 in 2022 after seeing the unveiling of Williams Racing’s FW44 earlier this week.
The Thai driver sat out the 2021 season after Red Bull Racing opted to replace him with Mexican racer Sergio Pérez, and Albon was relegated to the reserve driver role with the Milton Keynes-based team.
He did race a partial campaign in the German-based DTM Series in a Red Bull-backed Ferrari to keep himself active, and he was chosen by Williams to replace the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team bound George Russell for 2022.
Albon says the new car looks good, but it will be important to maximise the time on track in testing ahead of the race debut in Bahrain next month.
“The FW44 livery is clean and simple,” said Albon. “I like that we’ve gone for more blue with the dynamic diamond finish and a little bit of red; it looks really good and I’m looking forward to seeing it out on track.
“The upcoming Barcelona track session will be about making sure we’re efficient with our time to best ensure we have a competitive package heading into the season. We don’t have many days before our first race and so we quickly need to understand which areas of the car are strong and where we need to make improvements.”
Albon says every driver and team will be on a steep learning curve as everyone adapts to the new aero and tyre regulations for the 2022 season, but the preparation for the new campaign will still see them have the same objectives as before – be as quick as you possibly can!
“I’m sure it will be a little bit of a learning curve as we all try to learn how to get the most out of the new regulations, but the objectives and the way that we focus on this car is very much the same as in previous years,” he said.
“Ultimately, we’re all still trying to get a racing car around a track as quickly as possible.”
