Williams Formula One driver Alex Albo explained his team did not plan to achieve a good result in 2023 as the focus has been on future seasons since the beginning.
Williams F1 team finished seventh in the Constructors' Championship ahead of teams like
AlphaTauri,
Alfa Romeo, and
Haas despite not bringing many upgrades in 2023.
Both Williams altogether amassed 28 points, but 27 of those were collected by the
27-year-old, who also called 2023 his strongest season in F1 despite not achieving a single podium due to an uncompetitive car.
Albon himself admitted his team did not expect such a result at the start of this year. As quoted by
RacingNews365, the Williams driver said:
"I find it quite exciting because we've achieved a good result, a result which we didn't really expect starting this year."
The 27-year-old revealed the only goal in 2023 was to get through the season with very low expectations as the team did not plan on achieving a good result this year.
"And really this year, the sole purpose of it was to prepare for next year. From winter testing we already were starting to focus on next year. So time will tell obviously, we're not going to get it perfect straight away."
Albon and his team managed to maximize every opportunity they got to achieve a decent result, which helped the team finish seventh.
Seventh place for Williams also meant the team received a higher prize money award at the end of the season, which the team would not have counted on at the beginning of the season.
Albon also revealed the team experimented with setups for the 2024 car throughout multiple practices, one session in secret. He added:
"We've been experimenting this whole year, we've given up a lot of FP1 sessions to focus on set-up ideas and compromises for the next year. So we're putting ourselves in the best position possible."