Williams upgrades pay off for masterful Albon in Canada

Williams driver Alex Albon came close to stealing the limelight in Canada this weekend, with a strong performance across the weekend resulting in P7 meant that he was proclaimed Driver of the Day by the F1 fans.

Albon had been given the latest upgrades package developed by the team at Grove, and he put it to good use on Saturday in a rain-hit qualifying, even managing to top the times in the second round by 0.367s from Max Verstappen.

An ill-timed red flag prevented him from setting a time in Q3 before heavy rain came down, but he still lined up for the start of Sunday's race inside the top ten.

He started on the medium compound but pitted under the safety car for George Russell's accident on lap 12 to put on a set of the hard tyres. He then managed to complete 59 laps without a further stop.

"We have seen in the past that Alex is exceptionally good at managing a race and defending against a group of cars," said a delighted Dave Robson, Williams' head of vehicle performance, who called Albon's effort "outstanding".

"We benefited from a well-timed safety car but were also able to put together a very strong one-stop race," he continued. "Alex was able to overtake on track and then couple all of his past experience with the strengths of the updated FW45 to pull off a very good result.

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"We suspected that the circuit in Montreal would suit the car quite well and this has been enhanced by the upgrade package, which delivered well today. The whole team in Grove has worked tirelessly to deliver this upgrade and they can be suitably proud of their achievement."

"We had a great qualifying yesterday and now the race today was great," said a thrilled Albon. "It’s been a very strong weekend.

"I have to thank the team first and foremost because we had the upgrade on the car. It shows that we made a good step," he said. "We threw everything at this weekend. The circuit suited us [and] we also fitted a new power unit.

“But I wouldn’t have been able to do it without a good car,” Albon added. “Honestly speaking, we had a great car and I can’t thank the team enough.

“In the last two weeks I’ve been at the factory quite a lot with James [Vowles, Williams team principal] and I can’t tell you how much of a partnership we’ve got.

"The work that has gone on at the factory to get this upgrade ready has been monumental, and everyone has been working so hard."

Albon's seventh place finish adds six championship points to the team's current total, putting them up to ninth in the constructors championship - hot on the heels of both Haas and Alfa Romeo.

"To get these points on the board and move up to ninth in the championship is a nice place to be," said Albon. "And it’s great to be able to say thank you to the team and have this reward for everything that everyone has done."

The result also means that Albon himself has moved up from 18th to 12th in the drivers standings ahead of the likes of Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri and Valtteri Bottas.

Unfortunately it wasn't such a good day for Albon's team mate Logan Sargeant, who was ordered to park his car by the side of the track just eight laps into the race.

"We were forced to retire Logan’s car after we spotted an oil leak, which was starting to affect his power unit," Robson explained. "It was a shame for Logan as he had a good opportunity for some close racing and a good result."

Sargeant is one of only two drivers not to have scored any points so far this season, along with fellow rookie driver Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri.

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