Williams' Albon worried by AlphaTauri's recent resurgence
Alex Albon admits that he's worried about the recent improvement in performance by the AlphaTauri team, and what it might mean for Williams' hopes of a strong outcome to this year's constructors championship.
Williams claimed the wooden spoon in last year's standings with just eight points, compared to 35 points for the junior Red Bull outfit. But this year things look very different.
Thanks to Albon's five top ten finishes, Williams is currently in seventh place ahead of Haas, Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri who are bottom of the pile on just five points with six races remaining.
But recent races have hinted at signs of life at Faenza. They've scored points in two of the last five races, and in the most recent race in Japan Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda crossed the line in P11 and P12.
Meanwhile a strong summer for Albon has lost momentum in the last two outings, with 11th in Singapore followed by a double DNF for Albon and his pointless team mate Logan Sargeant in Japan.
At this rate, Albon fears that AlphaTauri's improvement could see the team swiftly reel them in and pass them in the final races of 2023.
"They were quick in Singapore and they're going to be quick again in every circuit," predicted Albon. "I think their step has been quite significant, and a little bit worrying.”
Tsunoda had started the Japanese GP in ninth place but dropped out ot the top ten in the race, which Albon reckoned was down to the team's tyre strategy over the course of the weekend.
"I think they boxed themselves, I was really surprised by their tyre choice,” Albon mused. “They gave themselves only one medium, one hard, and I think Yuki didn't even have a new soft.
“They gave themselves only one medium, one hard, and I think Yuki didn't even have a new soft," he summarised.
“Obviously we didn't expect this much degradation in the race," agreed Tsunoda. "Other teams had hard tyres, we did not, so some things to look out for the future."
He added that "I would say we are making most of it. I mean, at least my side," as he awaits word this week on whether Daniel Ricciardo is well enough to return to the team in place of stand-in driver Lawson.
Dave Robson, head of vehicle performance at Williams, also highlighted the threat of Alphatauri over the course of the remaining races of the current season.
"I think they're all going to be reasonably difficult now with the AlphaTauri the way it is," he said. "It's going to be tough to score too many more points.
“I think Vegas will be interesting, because it's new and it's Vegas,” he said when asked which tracks might favour Williams. “I think that might suit the car reasonably well.
"But that said, it is such a big unknown. What will the tarmac surface be like?" he pondered. "I'm quite looking forward to going back to Qatar actually, to see how we get on there."
The Qatar Grand prix takes place next Sunday, followed by a weekend off before the USA and Mexico races at the end of October, followed by three races in November rounding off the season.
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