Williams driver Alex Albon hopeful of change in fortunes in Canada after getting ‘exposed’ in Barcelona

Alex Albon is hopeful to perform much better at the Canadian Grand Prix after having raced on a 'real' circuit like the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Both Williams got knocked out in Q1 during the qualifying session of the Spanish GP (P20 and P18). Regardless, Alex Albon, who ultimately finished P16 in the race after being a lap down from the leader, felt like the car had much better pace than what they expected.

"We were expecting to be quite bad on race pace, but we ended up not being as slow as we thought. I’m happy, I think we did a good job."

Alex Albon during the Grand Prix of Spain 2023 (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Albon mentioned that despite the pace they had, it cannot be improved much anytime soon and all the modification depends on the setup of the car.

"The thing is, we can’t really get too much better, because we don’t have upgrades. We can do so much with the set-up of the car and improve it that way, but we’ve got to wait for that to happen really."

However, he is much more hopeful for the upcoming race in Canada because of the 'exposure' the team has gained about the performance of their car after racing on a 'real' circuit in Spain (in his words).

"It felt like we’re optimising our weekends, I don’t really think we did too much wrong in qualifying or in the race. Unfortunately, these kind of, let’s call them normal circuits, expose us a little bit. Hopefully when we go to a track like Canada, we can do a bit better."

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Alex Albon is not a fan of street circuits

Alex Albon called Catalunya a 'real' circuit. This could have an apparent meaning that he doesn't like racing on street circuits, which is supported by a statement he made earlier talking about actual racing circuits.

He stated, as GPFans quoted, that the racing experience is much better on circuits that are made for the purpose of racing. This is because of the space drivers have and other similar factors. The Williams driver mentioned this while talking about the Las Vegas GP.

"The race tracks tend to have the best racing. More space, you can do much quicker corners, wider corners, very limited buildings and what have you, 90 degree corners at a street place. That's what we need, we need to be able to do different lines, carry different speeds."

With Williams' outlook seeming rather bleak, it'll be interesting to see how Albon makes the most of his opportunities.