Albon said after qualifying that Williams had deserved more than the 15th spot on the grid. To GPblog and others, the driver explains that his front wing broke during the second qualifying session, preventing him from qualifying further forward.

According to Albon, speed was definitely there in the new Williams FW45 and Q3 was even possible. "Q1 was very good. I still had some traffic in front of me in the last two corners in my last run, which cost me a couple of tenths. At the beginning of my lap in Q2, a piece of my front wing broke, which meant I couldn't finish my lap. We deserved more," explained the Thai Briton.

Albon sees great progress

Albon believes his team has done an excellent job over the winter. Last year, the former Red Bull driver often struggled to get into Q2. Now he is frustrated because of missing Q3. "I think we have made great steps forward this year, if you look at the difference between this and last year. Maybe even the biggest step of all the teams, apart from Aston Martin. I'm very happy with that."

Albon also says he has opted for a medium downforce car. According to him, this should help in the race. So it will be interesting to see if the former teammate of Max Verstappen will work his way forward in the race later this day.