Alexander Albon was issued a challenge by Jost Capito to get faster following the signing of his new contract with Williams.
The 26-year-old has signed a contract with Williams following an outstanding debut season. Despite their challenges to give the British-Thai driver a competitive car, their gamble to get him back into Formula 1 after a year out seems to have paid off.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that Albon had agreed to a new contract that would keep him with the team for at least two additional seasons beyond the current one. Williams CEO Capito is delighted with his influence thus far, but he has identified at least one area in which he can still do more.
“He’s a real fighter once he closes the sights, but we think he could be more combative outside the car as well,” Jost Capito said. “He could be a bit harder on the engineers, for example. I think it would also create a better bond with them.”
“But all in all, we are impressed. His year as a reserve gave him a good understanding of how the dynamics between a driver and a team work.”
“He has seen a team working with the drivers from the sidelines and I think that helps him a lot.”
After being replaced at Red Bull after a challenging 18 months with the team, Albon had quit the sport to compete in DTM. He admitted that he never felt the connection with the car when explaining such issues, but that has improved since his Williams switch.
“I’d say the most positive thing I felt is, even though I had a year away, I feel like I’m confident in myself,” said Albon. “I’m feeling good in the car.”
“I think that’s the first thing which I always talked about being tricky that you drive certain cars and sometimes one car can feel like it drives you. It’s like you’re trying to wrestle it rather than letting the car do its thing.”
“Very early on with the Williams, even if it has its styles of driving, I still felt like I could get on top of it. I think I felt confident enough to drive it how I wanted to drive it, and that kind of helps straightaway.”
“We’ve had a really good start to the season, really enjoyed my time… and yeah, you know, I’m really happy for the future.”
“For the rest of the season, we’ll keep our heads down. We’re going to focus on maximizing the car and doing the best job we can, but to know that it goes beyond that is very exciting.”
