Alexander Albon has admitted that he enters the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix in a ‘positive’ frame of mind on the back of a successful weekend of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Williams Racing completed four-hundred and thirty-nine laps across the three days of testing, helping to give the Grove-based team an understanding into the characteristics of the FW45. While also to the delight of the team, demonstrating a strong level of reliability.
Albon completed over two-hundred laps across the three days of pre-season testing with the headline time coming on the opening day where the Thai driver finished seventh fastest on the day.
Speaking on Williams’ testing performance, Albon stated: “I’m feeling positive after winter testing has gone smoothly, however there’s still a lot of data to go through and a lot of work to be done before the first race.“
Returning for his second season with the Williams team, Albon will be hoping to see further strides being made by the Williams team in their quest to unroot themselves from the back of the grid. The Thai driver took home just three separate points finishes in 2022 as Williams finished last in the Constructors’ Standings for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
While Williams enjoyed a successful amount of mileage at the pre-season test, many around the paddock believe that Williams will still be competing towards the back end of the grid come the start of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Leaving Albon all too aware as to how key it will be for the team to maximise every inch of performance out of the FW45 if Williams are to sneak into the points-paying positions at the Bahrain International Circuit.
“Going into round one, we’re going to have to maximise everything we’ve got with the car, using this time between testing and the first race to better understand the car and go into the weekend with some good balance that we can compete with.”
Logan Sargeant: “I feel like I’m prepared as I can be”
Heading into his first Formula 1 start at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Logan Sargeant has remarked he feels as prepared as he ‘can be’ ahead of his debut for the Williams team.
After a successful full first season in FIA Formula 2 World Championship, in which the American took two victories in, Sargeant received the promotion from the Williams Driver Academy into a full-time race seat in Formula 1.
Sargeant’s fourth-place finish in last season’s Formula 2 championship was spearheaded by the American’s ability to rack up finishes inside the points on a consistent basis, including a sixth and seventh place finish at last season’s Bahrain weekend.
On first impressions, Sargeant appears to of adapted well to life in Formula 1, with the twenty-two year-old completing two-hundred and twenty-nine laps during pre-season testing. Sargeant also registered Williams’ fastest time of the test, a 1:32.549 completed on day two.
With eyes now firmly set on his Formula 1 debut, Sargeant spoke on how he is looking forward to seeing how the FW45 will match up against the rest of the grid.
“Heading into round one, I feel like I’m prepared as I can be“, Sargeant stated.
“We maximised our mileage throughout the three-day test and really built in terms of my driving as well as the car. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how we stack up this weekend and hopefully we can have a good one.”
