Albon: Williams 'more or less matching' McLaren on pure pace

Alex Albon says Williams' updated FW44 "more or less matched" McLaren's contenders on pace during last weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, despite the Anglo-Thai racer finishing outside the points.

Albon who had launched his race from P15 on the grid ran as high as 10th in both of his stints, first on the medium compounds tyre and then on the hard rubber.

However, in the closing stages of the race, the Williams charger was overhauled by Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas and then by Alpine's Fernando Alonso, moves that left him P12 at the checkered flag.

• Read also: F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2022 Austrian GP

"We took risks, we were bold and I had to push a little bit too hard on the tyres to keep up with Valtteri as he was a little bit quicker than us," Albon said.

"I knew what I was doing wasn’t kind to the tyres but I was trying to stay close to him. You risk and you push to fight for points and it didn’t quite work out for us, but I still feel it was a good race."

Over the course of the afternoon, Albon battled in each of his stints with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.

While he never managed to get the upper hand over the papaya duo, he felt that his pace was on a par with McLaren's MCL36, which was an encouraging sign regarding the efficiency of Williams' latest upgrades.

"The whole race we were more or less matching the McLarens," he said.

"We hit a bit of traffic here and there but I was really happy with our pace and we’ve definitely made a step forward this weekend.

"It was the first proper race with the new aero upgrade that we have and there’s a lot learnt from it so we can look at the data and come back stronger in France."

As for Albons's teammate Nicholas Latifi, who will get his hands on Williams' new-spec car in France next week, the Canadian was a collateral victim of debris on the track that damaged the floor of his Williams.

"Towards the end of the first stint I could feel the balance getting worse," he said.

"Beginning of the second stint there was a lack of downforce and pace. The decision was to retire the car to save the engine mileage and we’ll be ready to go again In France."

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