Alex Albon has said Williams have plenty of work to do to understand how best to unlock the potential of the FW44, after scoring their first point of the 2022 season last time out in Australia. Albon embarked on what could easily have been a non-stop race, as he used the C2 (Hard) tyre throughout the entirety of the Australian Grand Prix. Having had a Safety Car intervention bring him back into play, Albon was running seventh and with competitive pace in the final laps. However, the rules dictate a mandatory pit-stop, which Albon duly made on the penultimate lap. As a result, he slipped to 10th place – enough to score a solitary point. Albon explained afterwards that he can feel the strength of the car when running on the harder compound tyres, such as the C2 used in Australia. "There's a lot of analysis that we need to do right now," he told the F1 Nation podcast. "We need to understand what's going on, because we tend to always make a good jump from FP3 to qualifying and we always seem to do well on the C2. "It means that there's potential in the car and we need to unlock that."
Williams "really like" the Hard tyres
Having completed 57 of the 58 laps in Melbourne on one set of tyres, Albon explained that it felt bizarre behind the wheel. "It's weird because the car was just getting better and better!" he laughed. "Honestly, I don't know what it is, but we are really good on that tyre. It happened in Jeddah, it happened a little bit in Bahrain. "It's our good one. I was saying to the guys, 'We really need to come into Imola with 13 sets of primes (Hards) and just go racing!' "We seem to like it, and I don't know what it is about it." Having scored Williams' first point of the season, Albon said it was a little reward for the huge effort that's being put in by the entire team. "More than anything, we've had a tough start to the season – there's no hiding that," he said. "But there's a lot of motivation, there's a lot of desire. There's a lot of dedication in the team back at Grove, but also at the track. "I feel like that's a reward for everything we've done. It feels great to give something and it's just a great morale booster."
Could Williams surprise at Imola?
Heading to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, a race at which Williams ran in the points with George Russell last year until a collision with Valtteri Bottas took both drivers out, Albon is hopeful of another strong weekend. "Imola is obviously a different circuit, but I think it shares some similarities to Melbourne," he commented. "There are a lot of high-speed chicanes, there's not many low-speed corners. We don't expect in Imola to score another point... I mean, that's what we're gonna plan to do. "I imagine McLaren are going to be quite quick, and there'll be a few cars that will spring surprises. Hopefully, we can capitalise on that."
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