After the first practice sessions in Melbourne, the Williams Racing team is positive about the F1 Australian Grand Prix. At the Albert Park Circuit, the team mainly thinks about the qualifying set-up.
The team’s two drivers, Alex Albon and Nicolas Latifi, face the weekend with confidence despite there being plenty to do to improve performance ahead of Sunday.
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Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Today we focused on the new track layout and tire behavior on the new road surface. The track remains challenging and exciting, with many fast corners and changes of direction. Tire behavior was pretty good in FP1, but changed a bit in FP2 as track grip improved and the temperature dropped. We haven’t got the most out of the qualifying compound yet, so we definitely have some work to do on that. Otherwise the balance wasn’t too bad in FP2 and each driver just has some fine-tuning to do at night.
Alex Albon: It’s a cool track here in Melbourne; the track is a lot of fun to drive and the fans were incredible. Today could have gone a little better, but we made a good step between FP1 and FP2, so we’re moving in the right direction and we know what to focus on. We will continue the work tonight and hopefully we will be stronger for qualifying tomorrow.
Nicholas Latifi: It was a pretty fun first day experiencing the Albert Park circuit as it’s my first time riding here. It’s very fast, especially when they’ve made changes to the track; it has a street track vibe in some corners and a bit more technical than i expected but i think we got more confidence lap after lap. There is still a lot to gain from driving and the car. Hopefully we will make some good changes overnight to put us in a better position tomorrow.