Alex Albon heads into the F1 Italian GP with a strong momentum. Last round in Zandvoort saw him secure valuable points. Despite performing well in the race and grabbing his fourth P5 this season, the weekend was straightforward for Williams. During a tight Qualifying at the Dutch GP, Albon took P15. The British-Thai driver was unable to improve on his second run during Q2 which left the driver immensely disappointed.
Qualifying preparation to avoid mistakes
The Williams driver usually puts up a solid performance in Qualifying, however luck was not on his side last round. This time around in Monza, the team will hope to be better prepared. While fought his way up the field in Zandvoort, Monza is not as forgiving, and grid position becomes crucial.
When asked about his approach this weekend and the lessons learned from last time, when getting out of the pit lane in time became an issue, Albon explained in his print media session:
“We had a good discussion after the qualifying around general comms and making sure we’re more adaptable and more flexible to our run plans. We’ve been caught out a couple of times this year and I think we are more sensitive to others. It’s not a strategic focus necessarily. It’s also a tyre issue that we need to get on top of.
“We basically need to be, in many ways, even more on it than other teams when it comes to our garage pit lane exits or outlaps, some of these kind of things. A lot of that’s just down to teamwork and communication. We know what we want to do with the tyres but it’s not always possible to actually do it, that’s our issue, so how can we?
“On the same side, you’ve got the tow effect here. You might be trading tyres a little bit more than other circuits to get it right. Zandvoort, you don’t care about a tow, you just want the tyres into a good place. And a lot of FP1 and FP2, having that mindset of ‘treat this like it’s qualifying’ when we put the soft tyres on is important to get ready for when qualifying does happen.“
Albon: “Whoever gets the tyres in the right window is going to be the winner”
The Williams driver continued on to be asked if it’s still happy hunting ground for Williams or if it’s more balanced with the rest of the midfield now in Monza. Albon expressed:
“Definitely more balanced, I think. We’ve been keeping an eye on our relative pace, straight line speed. We weren’t that quick down the straights last year and I don’t think we’re going to be that quick this year either. Teams like Haas, for example, had extremely strong pace here last year and left us for dust, if I remember, on Sunday. So we’re managing expectations. I don’t think we’re going to be carrying the kind of performances as they’re not the same trends this year as last year and the years before.“
The Williams team have generally been strong around Monza in recent years. 2023 saw Albon take a solid P7 while his then teammate, Logan Sargeant, grabbed P13. Similarly, last season, Albon finished P9 while his teammate for half the season, Franco Colapinto, took P12. With their consistent improvements, they could potentially aim for higher positions this time around.
“That being said, it’s going to be the same teams. It’ll be Aston [Martin], Haas, and us, and whoever gets the tyres in the right window for qualifying and executes the perfect lap is going to be the winner,” he added.
As Williams head into Monza, they will hope to have figured out the kinks from Zandvoort. As the midfield remains tight, the hunt for points is crucial.
