(Motorsports news) Williams is presently eighth in the championship with 21 points, ahead of Haas on 12, Alfa Romeo on 10, and AlphaTauri on five, following a great run of points finishes for Albon. While Williams has no new parts for the FW45 as it focuses on its 2024 car, its rivals have continued to provide improvements, with AlphaTauri unveiling a new package in Singapore and Haas planning a huge modification for Austin.

The AlphaTauri modifications had an immediate impact at the Marina Bay street track, as Yuki Tsunoda won Q1 before losing in a tough Q2, and Liam Lawson finished Q3 in 10th. In the race, the latter finished eighth when his teammate retired on the first lap. Tsunoda and Lawson qualified ninth and eleventh at Suzuka, which the Faenza team considered a more realistic test of the new parts.

The team failed to score in the race as Tsunoda dropped out of the top 10, much to the chagrin of the Japanese driver, but Albon believes AlphaTauri’s promise is apparent. “I think they boxed themselves, I was really surprised by their tyre choice,” he stated of the AlphaTauri race. “They only had one medium, one hard, and I believe Yuki didn’t even have a new soft.”

So they were in a difficult situation throughout the race and perhaps gave up a little too much for Saturday rather than Sunday. “However, we were confident this weekend, but they were quick in Singapore.” And they’ll be quick again in every circuit. I believe their move was noteworthy and a little concerning.”

Dave Robson, Williams’ director of performance, concurred that AlphaTauri is now a threat to his team’s ability to consistently finish in the top ten. “I think Vegas will be interesting, because it’s new and it’s Vegas,” he said of the FW45’s potential for the remainder of the year. “I believe that would suit the car reasonably well.”

But, as previously stated, it is a huge unknown. And what about the tarmac surface? Actually, I’m looking forward to returning to Qatar to see how we fare. “But, with the AlphaTauri the way it is, I think they’re all going to be fairly difficult now.” It will be difficult to score many more points.” Tsunoda said that AlphaTauri’s tactics at Suzuka had been flawed.

When asked if the team has underperformed with its upgraded car thus far, he replied, “I would say we are making the most of it.” At least from my perspective. “Obviously, we didn’t expect this much degradation during the race, but other teams had hard tyres, while we didn’t.” So, some things to keep an eye on in the future.”

Also read: Vasseur: Ferrari cannot “postpone the fight” with Mercedes until the 2024 F1 season