Formula 1 News: Albon Claims Overweight Williams Car Cost Them Mercedes Beating in Bahrain
In a recent interview, Williams’ driver Alex Albon revealed that the team’s overweight 2024 Formula 1 car has resulted in a significant loss of performance, potentially costing them a chance to beat Mercedes in the opening race of the season. According to Albon, the weight issue has set the team back by around 0.045 seconds per lap, leading to a slump in the Constructors’ standings from seventh last year to ninth this season.
Albon admitted that the team has been playing catch-up, working to reduce the weight of the car over the past few races. Despite this, he remains optimistic that Williams would have been competing above its rivals and scoring regular points if the car were operating at its optimal weight.
“If you take the races so far this year, it’s almost a guarantee that we would have been.”
He believes that the team would have been in a strong position at the start of the year, possibly even in front of Mercedes in Bahrain.
The ongoing weight problem has been attributed to Williams’ relative drop compared to the competition. Albon reiterated, “It’s the weight, basically. I think if you look at it from race one, I think on pace-wise we could have been likely in front of the Mercedes.”
Looking ahead to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Albon expects the team to make further progress in reducing the weight of the car. However, he suspects that Barcelona’s more conventional circuit characteristics will expose the weaknesses in Williams’ package.
“I’ll be interested, because realistically speaking, if you look at Monaco and Canada, to Barcelona, they’re very different circuits. I think we’ve always struggled around here. I don’t expect us to be as competitive this weekend as we were in the last two, but I’m open for it.”
Formula 1 fans can stay up-to-date with the latest news, standings, and calendar on our website. With the Spanish Grand Prix just around the corner, keep an eye out for further updates on Williams’ progress and the rest of the Formula 1 grid.
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