Charles Leclerc probably celebrated the greatest success of the weekend. The Ferrari driver celebrated his first home victory. But Williams also celebrated a respectable success. Alexander Albon collected the first two Formula 1 points of the season for the team with ninth place. He still did not enjoy the race in the principality. Yuki Tsunoda managed his pace in front of him, and Albon despaired.
Albon: Could have also driven a small car
Charles Leclerc lapped the entire field up to position eight, which was taken by Yuki Tsunoda. At first glance, this does not seem completely unusual, but the front of the field was sometimes three seconds slower than would have been possible. However, the front was not the only part of the field that was massively holding back pace.
“I think I know the Racing Bull’s rear wing really well now. It was annoying because Yuki had so much pace. I thought to myself: I’m happy to manage, but we don’t have to manage so much. I thought: I could just drive my small Vespa,” said Albon. “It’s painful. It’s harder to stay focused when you’re driving so slowly because you’re not even close to any limit.”
No matter how they came about, the two points are worth their weight in gold for Williams. This moves the team up to eighth place in the constructors’ world championship, level on points with Alpine. “I would have liked a more exciting race, but P9 is very good for the team. That means a lot to us, it’s also great for the team’s morale,” said Albon happily. But puts it into perspective: “Apart from Charles, everyone found the race boring.”
In addition, Sargeant drove with Williams’ 2023 high-downforce rear wing due to a lack of parts. “It was a difficult race. We were stuck behind Fernando. At some point my rear tires were completely worn out.”
Albon is looking forward to Williams development: Getting faster and faster!
In Monaco, the weight of the car plays a less important role than on other tracks. The FW46’s excess weight was therefore not particularly noticeable. However, it will probably become more noticeable in the next races. Albon sees this as a positive: As soon as Williams reduces the weight, it is a guaranteed time gain!
“We know that there is still more performance to be had. The weight is not a question mark, but a guarantee of becoming faster. The longer the year goes on, the more we will hopefully catch up.