“The value of success” is the main difference between Red Bull and Williams in F1

Albon moved from Toro Rosso to Red Bull midway through the 2019 season for a fee Pierre Gaslybut just like the Frenchman, he struggled to make an immediate impact alongside the team leader Max Verstappen.

At the end of the 2020 season, Albon was sidelined for good Sergio Perez and spent 2021 on the sidelines, only to return this year Williams.

While Williams operates at the opposite end of the grid compared to Red Bull, Elbon says he is still enjoying life at the Grove.

Speaking to Autosport ahead of the summer break, Albon said driving for Williams had “changed” his definition of success and explained that he loved how much it meant to the team to even score one point.

“If there’s a team that wants to win, of course if you’re P6 or P7, it’s not very good. While for us we are not really where we want to be this year, but if we perform perfectly and the car is in his window we can get points and fight for the midfield,” Albon told Autosport.

“The main difference between the team change is the value of success and what a good weekend is. Sometimes you can go out in Q1, but actually you feel that the lap was very good, as the car was good. You felt like a team, you maximized everything.

“And you have to take it as a positive, even though in retrospect it might not seem like it was.”

After Albon was forced to sit out the season, he had to shake off the rust, but he believes his return was made easier by the new rules, which meant each driver started from scratch trying to grasp the new technique.

After the qualification of the team partner Nikolai Latifi 11-2 and having taken all three of Williams’ points before the summer break, the Anglo-Thai driver feels he has had a good first half of 2022.

“I feel like it went very well,” he added. “Obviously after you’ve spent a year without being in the car, inevitably – especially through testing and the first couple of races – there’s a bit of a feeling that you want to find your feet.

“But I have to say, even with that, I still felt as prepared and ready as everyone around me. Because I think with the rule change, things started to level out a lot.

“It is very difficult to say where the line is compared to last year. I mean it’s a completely different car, you can’t compare.

“But I feel like there were times where we got points at times when we had no reason to be there and those are the races that really mean a lot.”

While Albon, who extended his contract with Williams until 2023admitted that racing for a team was less pressure than battling at the front of the grid, he felt most of the pressure was still on himself.

“You could say that the focus is less. There’s less noise in terms of expectations or pressure or whatever, but at the same time, at least the criticism always comes from within,” he explained.

“I’ve said it before. I’m my harshest critic. It sounds bad, but I don’t care what people say, it’s really kind of self-esteem from that side.

“Maybe there’s less noise, but at the same time I’m always – I’ll say – unhappy.”