Alex Albon says he ‘really’ enjoys working with 59-year-old Williams chief

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Alex Albon has shared how much he enjoys working alongside chief technical officer Pat Fry at Williams.

Team principal James Vowles is setting about rebuilding the Williams team after several campaigns where they were fighting – sometimes unsuccessfully – to not finish at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship.

Speaking on the Beyond The Grid Podcast, Albon suggested that the advice and information shared by Fry has been invaluable.

Albon shares the positives of working with Fry at Williams

James Vowles was named as the team principal of Williams in January 2023 off the back of a season that saw the team comfortably finish last in the standings.

Alex Albon, Nicholas Latifi and stand-in driver Nyck de Vries scored just eight points between them when their closest rivals AlphaTauri achieved a total of 35.

American driver Logan Sargeant was hired and although he only scored one point, Albon’s performance earned Williams a 7^th-place finish.

One of the key hires Vowles made was Pat Fry, who had previously been at Alpine – and he may be glad he’s left the French manufacturer given their current issues.

Fry has admitted there are big improvements needed at Williams, but Albon has explained the positive impact he’s made in the team.

He’s vastly experienced having joined the grid with Benetton in 1987 and has worked for McLaren, Ferrari and Renault.

It’s now time to see whether he can help Williams steadily climb up the grid in the next few years.

Williams taking small steps forward

Asked about working with the 59-year-old, Albon said: “Yeah, he’s been great. I really enjoy Pat [Fry].

“We have these meetings Monday after every race and it’s just kind of like shoot your… everyone kind of has a bit of a chat around the areas we need to focus on and whatever.

“And obviously, Pat has so much experience and it’s very interesting to see the areas we need to work on as a team because he’s coming from also a very organisational background.

“So, when he talks, he’s not technically always talking about performance, but he’s talking about how we can be more efficient as a team.

“When we look at the areas for us to improve, that’s really our main areas.

“Some things he’ll say are positive and then there are others where he’ll say we have work to do.”

Fry’s arrival at Williams will help Albon and Sargeant but Vowles has already admitted he’s not expecting immediate improvements from the team.

In fact, he admitted during the winter that he would sacrifice the 2024 season if it helped them achieve long-term success.

Williams are yet to get off the mark this season although Albon will feel he was slightly hard done by that he couldn’t secure a point in Saudi Arabia.

He’ll be hoping his fortunes change when he heads to Melbourne for the next race on the 2024 calendar.