Albon: 'Hopefully we have a better base to build off this season'

All teams are arriving for winter testing in Bahrain. Meanwhile, more and more is revealed about who will be in action and when. Williams is the next team to share its line-up for the tests.

On the first day (next Thursday), Williams will let both drivers onto the track. In the morning hours, first Alex Albon will test the FW45, after lunch, it will be the turn of F1 debutant Logan Sargeant. Sargeant will also be in action throughout Friday. The closing day (Saturday) will be entirely to Albon's credit.

Albon is looking forward to taking to the track again - after the earlier shakedown - with the car for 2023. He also realises that there is little time in preparation for the first Grand Prix, which is scheduled in just over a week at the same track. "Now we’re here in Bahrain for proper testing, we’ll need to adjust to the different conditions, with 1.5 days each to get comfortable with the car", says Albon. "Ultimately, it’s not much, so we need to be proactive in getting the car in a decent place as quickly as possible, which I think we did a good job at last year. Hopefully we have a better base to build off this season, however it’s difficult to comment on at this stage."

For Logan Sargeant, the test in Bahrain is the start of a new adventure. The same goes for James Vowles. He came over from Mercedes and started as Williams' team boss this week.