Alex Albon issues bleak Williams verdict after ‘open’ James Vowles talks

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Alex Albon has issued a bleak verdict on the chances of Williams fighting for regular podiums after ‘open’ talks with team boss James Vowles before the 2024 F1 season.

The new campaign is now mere weeks away with pre-season testing from February 21 to 23 in Sakhir. Five red lights will then go out to start the Bahrain GP one week later at the circuit. It will mark the start of Albon’s third season with Williams and Vowles’ second at their helm.

Williams named Vowles as their team principal last January to replace Jost Capito in charge. He quit Mercedes to move to the Grove squad, having served as the Silver Arrows’ strategy director. Together, Albon and Vowles helped Williams boast their best F1 season since 2017.

Alex Albon led Williams to their best season since the 2017 F1 campaign

Albon scored 27 of Williams’ 28 points to claim seventh place in the constructors’ standings. They had not finished as high in the championship since Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll drove them to fifth. Logan Sargeant only scored one point during the American’s rookie campaign.

Seventh place was also the best results that Albon achieved through the 2023 season at the Canadian and Italian GPs. He has not stood on a Grand Prix podium since racing for Red Bull at the 2020 Tuscan and Bahrain GPs. Albon secured his two rostrums to date in third place.

Now, Albon has already revealed his desire for Williams to catch Alpine in the constructors’ championship in 2024. The Renault-owned outfit finished last year in sixth place. But Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon combined to score 120 points for the Enstone natives in 22 rounds.

Alex Albon fears regular podiums will not arrive for Williams until 2026

But Albon is not expecting Williams to jump into the podium mix in 2024 after speaking with Vowles. Instead, the 27-year-old fears the Grove team may have to wait until F1’s next set of regulation changes in 2026. Williams may even have to wait until 2027 to be regular threats.

Albon told RacingNews365: “James is extremely involved and he always keeps me up to date with the progress of the team, the areas we need to work on, the areas that I could help him improve. He’s very open in that sense – which is, obviously, a very nice thing to have.”

The London-born Thai continued: “I think that 2026/2027, that’s the period of time where I think we’re going to consistently fight for podiums and, obviously, that’s quite far away.

“I just have to be happy with the journey that we’re on and the progress that we’re making. That’s pretty clear of where I see the team and where I want the team to be. I’ll be assisting in pushing for that as long as I can.”

Formula 1 plans to adapt the technical regulations for the 2026 season with shorter, lighter and narrower cars. The FIA is pushing for a 50kg reduction in weight with the limit for 2024 cars set at 798kg. F1 will also introduce new power unit regulations from the 2026 season.

The new engines will even produce net zero exhaust CO2 emissions and will also run on fully sustainable fuels. The electrical power for the MGU-K (Kinetic Motor Generator Unit) set at 120kW will also rise to around 350kW by collecting more of the energy produced in braking.