Williams pace skewed by set-up approach at F1 Canadian Grand Prix

Williams appeared to err on the side of caution following an impressive Friday practice day at Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix – with both drivers pointing to running a different programme than their rivals as the reason for a strong showing.

Alex Albon was second in first practice with Carlos Sainz third, while in FP2 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve the pair took fourth and seventh, respectively.

It was a welcome return to form after a non-scoring round in Barcelona last time out and Williams is no doubt hopeful it can get back into the points with a good race in Montreal this weekend.

But Albon warned there is still plenty to be done if Williams is to maintain its momentum heading into Saturday.

“Very positive. We hit the ground running,” he said on Friday. “I think we may be running a different programme to everyone else in FP1 at least, so maybe flattered ourselves a little bit.

“But FP2, feeling okay. I think we struggled a little bit with brakes throughout today, so we lost a little bit of confidence and rhythm, which around here is very important.

“But the base car is strong. I think we’ve got a good package underneath us. I think Q3 is within our targets tomorrow. It’s one of those ones where the car still doesn’t feel fantastic and we still have some work to do. So, it’s good.

“It shows there’s a bigger envelope that we need to explore. But at the same time, because we’re quick, you don’t want to change too much. There’s a bit of a balance between it. I don’t think we are quite there yet. If we want to score good points, we’re going to have to make the car quicker.”

Meanwhile, Sainz feels making the right tyre choice could prove critical in Montreal as he too suggested Williams’ pace might not be completely accurate.

“This morning we were just probably running a bit lighter or a bit more engine mode than the others,” said Sainz. 

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

“That’s why our competitiveness seemed higher than expected, but in FP2 we were still in the mix.

“Obviously, a good step behind [FP2 leader George] Russell, that seems very quick, and some others, but more or less where we expected. Three or four tenths off the fastest cars, which is a good place to be going into tomorrow. 

“We seem to be in the mix again this weekend. So, happy. The car gives me confidence. There’s probably going to be a bit of a mess again with the tyres, whether to run C6 or C5 in quali, because they seem again extremely close. Apart from that, honestly, just focusing on making sure we nail the tyre strategy for tomorrow.

“I think probably when they all turn it up, we’ll struggle to out-qualify them or get in the mix with them, but we’re not too far, which is again in Miami and Imola, a good place to be.”