Alex Albon has admitted Williams will have to wait even longer before it returns to the forefront of the F1 grid.
The Grove-based squad has endured a miserable opening half to the 2026 campaign, having long targeted the regulation reset as a chance to make a jump up the pecking order.
However, alarm bells were ringing during the pre-season period when it skipped the Barcelona shakedown before arriving in Bahrain with a heavily overweight car.
Having worked ever since to shed off the weight and add performance to the car, it has scored 11 points - leaving it ninth in the constructors' championship.
Albon, who joined Williams in 2022, admitted he thought the current season would be a stepping stone to leaving the midfield pack behind ahead of another jump in performance for 2027.
“It definitely feels like we've taken two or three years back,” Albon told media including RacingNews365.
“When you look at last year and you think 'how long will it take for us to become a top team?'... maybe I was optimistic but I genuinely thought 2027, we could start fighting for consistent podiums and maybe challenging for the odd win, leave the midfield and fight with those four teams.
“I do think there is a setback when you look at where we are this year.”
Williams has been under a major overhaul since the arrival of James Vowles as team principal.
While the former Mercedes man has introduced significant change, Albon has stated the new regulations have continued to expose the limitations of the squad.
“It is partly us being late and we have been on the back foot, but it's exposed to this regulation change,” he said.
“It's exposed to some of the bottlenecks of the other teams, and we've realised there are bigger things that we need to change, which we are correcting.
“But it's frustrating for all of us. It's like this shared frustration that we're just going to have to continue this journey for a little bit longer.”
Originally published by RacingNews365 —
Read Original Article