frustration with Williams this season, insisting the team is no
longer a “new girlfriend” to the 30-year-old. The opening campaign
under the new power unit regulations is quickly becoming one of the
most difficult of Albon’s F1 career, with the Thai-British driver
being plagued by regular issues. Albon has vented his frustration
several times during media sessions and over the team radio,
largely because he has been completely lost as to where the car’s
pace has gone. He described Williams’ FW48 as “strange” during the
Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, an event that saw him suffer yet
another issue that forced him into the garage for several laps. A
loose camera forced Albon into the garage, to the extent that the
race became about simply gathering mileage, with the 30-year-old
lacking confidence in the car through the corners. Albon has scored
just five points across the opening seven races and, having been
with Williams since 2022, Coulthard believes he is no “closer to
the moon” than when he first joined the team. Asked if Albon’s
frustration is greater than Sainz’s, Coulthard said on the Up to
Speed podcast: “I think his frustration is visible when you listen
to the radio and watch him. “This is not a new girlfriend, where
he’s all giddy with excitement. “This is a relationship, and that
relationship has done this, and then it’s done that. “It takes a
huge amount of emotional commitment, physical commitment and life
commitment to be a racing driver. It’s not something you just turn
off on a Friday night and turn back on on a Monday morning. It’s
not a nine-to-five job. “He is absolutely committed to this
journey, and the journey has not taken him closer to the moon. So,
I guess he will understandably be thinking, ‘Look, I’ve been on
this journey for a long time. What’s going wrong? Why are we not
seeing the progress, which I think has been there over the last
couple of races?'”