Alexander Albon (THA) Williams Racing FW45. 26.11.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, Race Day.
Alex Albon admits that Williams’ championship fate against AlphaTauri was out of its hands during the Formula 1 season finale in Abu Dhabi due to its lack of pace.
Williams entered the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 28 points and seventh in the Constructors’ standings, seven points ahead of eighth-placed AlphaTauri directly behind.
However, with Albon out in Q2 during qualifying and team-mate Logan Sargeant at the back of the grid, Tsunoda’s sixth-place starting berth was cause for concern.
Had Tsunoda’s race pace been enough to finish exactly where he started in sixth position, AlphaTauri would have leapfrogged Williams for seventh in the standings.
Albon conceded there was nothing he and his team could do to affect the outcome, with neither of the Grove-based squad’s drivers troubling the points at any stage.
“It was a tough race where we were just dependent on Yuki [Tsunoda],” Albon said. “Unfortunately, Yuki was too fast, so we could not have any involvement in his race because he was up the road from us.
“But fortunately for us, some of the quicker cars got past him so happy to cement that P7.”
(L to R): James Urwin (GBR) Williams Racing Race Engineer with Alexander Albon (THA) Williams Racing on the grid. 26.11.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, Race Day. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] © Copyright: Coates / XPB Images
Tsunoda and AlphaTauri wound up employing a one-stop strategy and the Japanese driver’s spirited display was only good enough for eighth as his tyres faded late on.
With Daniel Ricciardo out of the points, Williams was assured to end the 2023 F1 season with its best placing in the Constructors’ standings since taking fifth in 2017.
The Anglo-Thai driver was only able to muster a 14th-place finish by the time the chequered flag fell at the Yas Marina Circuit and his troubles began from lights out.
“Straight into wheel spin and then went into more wheel spin and then really struggled in the beginning of a stint,” Albon said of his launch and early laps.
The increased wind direction on race day also exposed a weakness of Williams’ FW45 package, which Albon also credits for negatively impacting his race prospects
“The wind was quite high, you know, in the first 20 laps of the race and it’s amazing how it frustrates our car,” Albon added.
“It makes it so much harder to drive so much more disconnected and then the wind died down and we changed tyres and then the car came alive and especially the final stint we were very strong.
“But that’s kind of the sensitivities of our car. I feel like if we didn’t have that first stint, we could have been fighting for points.”
Keyword: Albon: Williams were ‘dependent on Tsunoda’ in Abu Dhabi