Alexander Albon will race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit for the first time this weekend, with the Thai driver one of only two drivers on the grid not to have raced their previously.
The Williams Racing driver sat out the 2021 season after losing his Red Bull Racing drive but returned to the driving seat last weekend in the Bahrain Grand Prix with his new team, and he brought them a thirteenth-place finish.
Albon believes the FW44 will suit the Saudi Arabian track better than it did at the Bahrain International Circuit, and he hopes for a much more competitive outing this weekend than last. He also says the more running the team do with the car, the more they will learn and, more important, the better they will be able to make it.
“The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a new track for me and not an easy one to get up to speed with, so whilst I’m looking forward to that challenge, I know it’s going to be a tough one,” said Albon.
“I think it’ll be a track that is a bit better suited to the characteristics of the FW44; it’s smoother with more medium and high-speed corners, so I’m hoping we go well there.
“The more running we do, the more we’ll understand this car and how we can work to maximise its performance, so I’m mostly just looking forward to getting back out on track.”
“We’re not starting the season exactly where we want to be” – Nicholas Latifi
Team-mate Nicholas Latifi admits Williams did not start the season in a way they would have liked in Bahrain, but there were certainly positives to take away from the event that he hopes they can build on in Saudi Arabia.
The Canadian ended only sixteenth in Bahrain, with only Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Nico Hülkenberg finishing on track behind him, but Latifi is hopeful improvements will come and Williams will move up from the back of the pack and into the midfield battle.
“I’m looking forward to heading to Saudi Arabia for the second race of the year,” said Latifi. “The track was a new addition to the calendar in 2021 but was definitely one of the most fun and exciting races.
“I also really enjoyed the combination of it being a night street race; that added to the atmosphere and was an interesting new challenge.
“Both myself and the team are heading to Saudi looking to building on the learnings that we took from Bahrain. We’re not starting the season exactly where we want to be, but there are some positives and we’ll continue to push to make sure things improve.”
Nicholas Latifi is hopin for a more competitive weekend in Saudi Arabia than in Bahrain – Credit: Williams Racing