Alex Albon has officially begun life as a Williams driver which he described as “very exciting” in which he familiarised himself with his new team.
Albon was named as George Russell’s replacement in September after the Brit was confirmed as graduating to Mercedes this season.
This week though marked Albon’s first official day at Williams after spending 2021 as Red Bull’s Development and Reserve Driver, following his demotion at end of 2020 as Sergio Perez replaced Albon as Max Verstappen’s teammate.
“It was very exciting to meet who I’m going to be working with and who’s going to be building my car,” said Albon as he acclimatised himself with his new environment at Grove.
Albon also noted that there will be plenty of new names to memorise throughout pre-season as he half-joked: “It’s a very international team and there are a lot of names that I haven’t quite got in my head yet, but that will come!
“Other than that, I got to meet my side of the garage in terms of engineering and through the simulator work, we learnt how we do our business – what makes me click and what makes them click.”
Albon also praised “Williams as an intimate team,” full of various key “big” people from marketing to aerodynamics, as he received “a tour of everywhere” at the factory.
Geography though seems to be an issue for Albon as he noted that Williams’ HQ is “in the middle of the countryside”, although he is pleased by how “really nice” the team base is with everyone knowing one another well in a “very friendly” manner.
The 25 year-old also lost his car keys on his first day at Williams but managed to find them after he initially thought that he left them on his dinner tray, only for them to be found “just down the side of the sofa in the simulator room,” saving him a hands-on garbage bin tour.
Albon though is excited to get back racing after spending last season racing in DTM alongside his Red Bull duties, although he is confident that he has “gained a lot of experience” so knows what he is doing and wants to achieve.
“It’s great to be able to work with this team who will listen to me, we’ll listen to each other and try and get the most out of this car.” commented Albon on his initial communication with his engineering crew and other members of Williams.
Leave a Reply