Media Watch: Our press coverage ahead of the Australian Grand Prix

The race weekend may not have fully got going yet, but we’ve already enjoyed an action-packed time across our Melbourne pop-up and the Albert Park circuit.

As the Australian Grand Prix edges closer, let’s take a look at some of the key Williams Racing talking points in the media this week.

Speaking to Formula 1 in Melbourne on Thursday, Alex Albon praised the big steps forward that we have taken since 2022 and is “motivated” by the team’s chances to fight for points more regularly.

After a positive debut season with Williams Racing, Albono has shown plenty of promise in 2023 and believes our opportunities will come across this Australian Grand Prix weekend.

“That midfield has tightened up so much,” he told Lawrence Barretto.

“It’s motivating to feel like you’ve got a chance to get points every time you get out into the car.

“So I’m really excited, this circuit is actually really similar, I think, to Jeddah - high speed, smooth tarmac, a street track, so hopefully again it will be a good one for us.”

In case you missed it in the latest episode of The Williams Warm-Up, we spoke to Ben Jacobs, Logan’s performance coach, about his journey so far and how he’s feeling ahead of his home Grand Prix.

In that interview, Ben spoke about how he’s using his experience as a former professional rugby player to help Logan develop as a racing driver.

Earlier this week, Melbourne-based newspaper The Age also caught up with Ben to find out how he’s translating his knowledge from the field to the race track.

“It’s a lot more than doing training on a daily basis,” he told them.

“This is quite an individual sport, you’re there by yourself and it’s quite lonely and my presence brings a family element.

“I use my wealth of knowledge being an ex-professional from my rugby background, like the dedication and the sacrifices you need to do to become the best of the best at your sport.”

There was more positive Williams Racing chat on The Race’s latest podcast, where Mark Hughes, Scott Mitchell-Malm and Edd Straw assessed our early-season performance.

The trio discussed how our start to the 2023 campaign has been better than expected and that the team have been F1’s “surprise early midfield star”.

In the episode, they assess the strengths and weaknesses of the FW45, while also discussing James Vowles’ first few weeks as our Team Principal and Logan’s start to life in the sport.

Speaking to motorsport.com, our Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson has also been pleasantly surprised by our progress in the early stages of the season.

The FW44 excelled at high-speed, low-downforce tracks last year, but didn’t fare so well at the higher-downforce circuits, something the team have worked tirelessly to improve over the winter.

Dave is happy with the gains that we have already made in 2023 but isn’t ready to get carried away just yet given it’s still early days.

"We've made good progress because we knew when the last year's car came out, it had some particular weaknesses," he said.

"Throughout last year and into this year we've worked on those, and I think they probably yielded a reasonable step up in performance.

"I think we managed to take another step at the start of this year. That said, of course, we've only been to two circuits, so I'm sure there'll be others where that improvement is less evident."

After Alex appeared on the new The Fast and The Curious podcast earlier in the season, it was Logan’s turn this time.

The show’s presenters, Betty Glover and Christian Hewgill, recently joined our young American at our Grove HQ to reflect on his season so far.

There was also time to explore Logan’s love for a good, honest American burger, with one of the world’s best burger chefs joining the episode to help build Sarge’s perfect cheeseburger.

There was also time for the podcast hosts to try their luck on our Esports simulators.