Elbon: In Monaco, the benefits of the FW45 will be less noticeable

Alex Albon was one of the Formula 1 drivers who took part in a charity race on Sunday at the Imola virtual circuit, which had been decided to replace the canceled Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. According to the Williams driver, it was interesting and fun, but now for the weekend in Monaco, Alex foresees certain difficulties.

Alex Albon: “The charity race on the virtual track in Imola was interesting and fun, especially because there was a reason to hold it. We managed to raise a lot of money. Although the feeling was strange because among the participants were professional e-racers, there were seven or eight people and they were driving a second or more faster.

Because of this, the sensations were so-so, in such a situation you lose confidence in yourself. At the end I was less confident in my abilities than I was before the start of that race. In addition, I was disqualified because I did not meet the blue flags at all! ..

If we talk about the expectations for the coming weekend, we have a more efficient car this year, and that was felt on all the circuits where we have already performed. When you start the first practice knowing that you will be faster than last year in qualifying on Friday, it puts you in a good mood.

So this year it has been a real pleasure to fly, and I feel much more confident behind the wheel of the FW45. But Monaco has a specific circuit and the advantages of our new car are particularly apparent at high speeds. Therefore on a slow track they will be less noticeable, but we’ll see. Monaco is different from other circuits, and some teams here can only outperform their rivals because of the quirks of the configuration.

But the most important thing is that our car is clearly better than last year in terms of basic characteristics, so the team is quite optimistic. Of course we still don’t have enough points, but this season there are almost no dropouts and there was only one strange race. Unfortunately it was a race in Melbourne and I made a mistake there myself. But now I am optimistic about preparing for the next stages of the championship and hope that we will continue to improve as the season progresses.”