‘It feels like a totally different car to last year’ – Albon praises ‘huge uplift’ for Williams after both cars reach Q3 in Melbourne

Alex Albon was delighted to take P6 in Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, with the Thai driver stating that the FW47 feels like a “totally different car to last year” on a day that saw both Williams cars reach the top 10.

After a decent day of running for the squad on Friday – despite Albon experiencing a problem with his brakes in first practice – that level of performance seemed to have carried over into Saturday, leading to an impressive run to Q3 where Albon beat the likes of Ferrari to sixth place.

Asked afterwards about what looked to be a “heck of a lap”, Albon responded: “It was. It was [in] FP1 we had a brake issue, and then we were… felt like a little bit on the back foot, just a session behind in terms of confidence and getting into the rhythm of the weekend.

“And then in Qualifying, it was kind of feeling good and then moments were good. We were really struggling with the tyre warm-up and then by the end of the last run of the session, we finally got it!

“We were experimenting with all kinds of different things and, honestly, even to be able to say that we can experiment, knowing that we had a bit of pace to try different things is something quite new to me, to be honest.

Williams ‘feels like a totally different car to last year’ – Albon

“Great to be in front of the Ferraris as well, I think Yuki [Tsunoda’s] done a very impressive lap as well [to qualify in P5]. But [it’s] great for us, I think after a long winter and looking where we were last year to this year, it’s a huge uplift.”

Pushed on how encouraging it was to feel the car come alive during that final lap in Qualifying, a smiling Albon answered: “Honestly, even when it wasn’t alive, I was enjoying every lap. It felt amazing to be out there.

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“This track has got so much grip and the corners are so flowing. It’s a nice one, first race of the year – your neck starts to feel it straight away! But, regardless, it feels firstly like a totally different car to last year but, also, just a lot of fun.”

It was equally a solid day for Albon’s new team mate Carlos Sainz, with the Spaniard also progressing to Q3 during his first race weekend for Williams before ending the session in P10.

Reflecting on his Qualifying after jumping out of the car, Sainz commented: “It’s been honestly a very good day for the team. I think in general we need to be happy [that] we had two cars in Q3, with Alex in P6, I’m in P10.

Sainz brands Saturday ‘a very good day for the team’ as both Williams get through to Q3

“I think it’s the maximum we could have hoped for today. Obviously I would have liked to be a bit more competitive in Q3, but the reality is that I was very lost with where to find the lap time with the car, with the soft tyres.

“[I hadn’t] been comfortable all Qualifying and I didn’t find the lap time that I wished, but the more Qualis I will do, the more I will learn from the car, I will know where to extract it.”

With the potential for rain to hit Melbourne on Sunday, Sainz – who is known to perform well in wet conditions – is hopeful that such weather could help him to gain places.

“That’s for sure the target, to improve the position we are starting on,” the four-time race winner said.

“Quali has been extremely tight – tomorrow in the wet will be a completely different story, but we will do the best we can as it will be my first laps in the wet with this car. [I have] no idea what will happen.”