Alex Albon remains confident that the foundations are in place for Williams to improve despite their recent spell of disappointing results. (More Motorsport News)
After 14 races last season, Albon had achieved five top 10 finishes yet has only finished in the top-half of the field twice at the same point this season.
Williams revealed that their car was overweight at the start of the season, estimated to have cost them 0.45 seconds per lap.
Despite the disappointment, however, Albon still feels the team are heading in the right direction.
“It's a real shame that at the start of the year, we were not on-weight where we should have been,” he told Motorsport.com.
“Our car should have been in the points consistently for the first few races and then we would have shuffled down to where we are now.
“A lot of what-ifs but I'm happy we're getting the foundations in place. I don't think without the changes we've made, I would ever see us as a team that can get out of this backfield battle.
“I feel like now at least we've got foundations that can bring us up."
While Albon remains realistic that Williams needs to improve, he also feels their struggles are in part due to the improvement of the rest of the field.
"We are obviously not where we want to be. Truthfully, I feel like that's testament to the other teams too. That midfield group has made such a huge step,” he said.
"We've made a good step but relative to the others, maybe we are holding back a little bit.
"We've done a lot of changes within the team, last year into this year, there's been big changes around the DNA of the car, but also the structure of the team.
"When you put the team under that much work and do that many changes, it shows the cracks.”
Due to those cracks, scrutiny has been focused on team principal James Vowles, who joined the Williams in 2023 after 12 years at Mercedes.
His arrival saw an immediate improvement as Williams finished seventh in the Constructor’s Championship in 2023, three places better than the previous season.
They currently sit ninth but Albon still believes Vowles remains “the right man for the job”.
He said: "I have been very much a part of the project. James has brought me into it. He's very straight. He doesn't tell you things are better than they actually are, and I like that.
"I feel like whenever something's not come to plan he tells me the areas that the team needs to work on. He tells me if there's anything I can do to help.”
That pragmatism has rubbed off on the 28-year-old driver, who cannot see titles coming Williams’ way soon.
“If I am being totally honest, I don't see us being in position to fight for wins and titles for a while, but to do steps where we start nipping in and getting podiums,” said Albon.
"I believe that 2026 would be difficult, but winning in '27 would be much more realistic. We've got great investment, and we're recruiting very aggressively.”
