And although Williams had already shed 14kg from the automotive within the off-season, its 2024 FW46 was still 4 or five tenths slower per lap than it must have been.
Albon says it was difficult to maintain quiet in regards to the weight issue until team principal James Vowles revealed it to the press at Imola, with the apparent discrepancy between the general progress Albon says Williams has made and his disappointing results to this point, much of which is as a consequence of being obese .
“It was difficult because you asked me what the difference was to last year's car and I said it was better, but we ran in P19 and P20,” Albon said in Montreal.
“I needed to bite my lip somewhat bit, however it was mainly due to that. There are still things in our automotive that we want to enhance, I won't deny it, however it was all the time very difficult to reply your questions. questions.”
Albon said that despite Imola's improvements, his automotive was still “significantly overweight”, which had not been punished as much by recent circuits.
Alex Albon and Williams FW46
Photo: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport images
“We are still overweight, and we are significantly overweight,” Albon said. “I feel Monaco is the least weight sensitive and Canada is the fourth least weight sensitive, so the tracks are good.
“Barcelona are entering into the other way, so we just need to profit from these moments until the load comes off the automotive. Trying to achieve mass before the tip of the season is a giant challenge, but you will certainly succeed. “Be tough.”
As Albon has suggested, next week's Spanish Grand Prix on the high-downforce Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya may very well be a tougher test for the Grove-based team.
He believes the brand new maximum downforce rear wing introduced in Monaco might be boost for the team, but he doesn't “expect magic” from a track that has historically been one in all Williams' weaker tracks.
“Barcelona will just attempt to optimize our automotive. Maximum downforce is comparable to Monaco, so our big rear wing works quite well. It's quite efficient,” he explained.
“I don't expect any magic switches [in the pecking order]I just hope we’ve a automotive that's a bit more consistent.
“Barcelona was mostly one in all the worst tracks for us. I do know we are saying this about lots of tracks, but this is definitely one in all the worst.
“I will be interested to see if we feel good now in Barcelona, or maybe we actually feel good.”
