Alex Albon remains confident that the foundations are in place for Williams to improve despite their recent spell of disappointing results.
After 14 races last season, Albon had achieved five top 10 finishes yet has only finished in the top-half of the field twice at the same point this season.
Williams revealed that their car was overweight at the start of the season, estimated to have cost them 0.45 seconds per lap.
Despite the disappointment, however, Albon still feels the team are heading in the right direction.
“It's a real shame that at the start of the year, we were not on-weight where we should have been,” he told Motorsport.com.
“Our car should have been in the points consistently for the first few races and then we would have shuffled down to where we are now.
“A lot of what-ifs but I'm happy we're getting the foundations in place. I don't think without the changes we've made, I would ever see us as a team that can get out of this backfield battle.
“I feel like now at least we've got foundations that can bring us up."
While Albon remains realistic that Williams needs to improve, he also feels their struggles are in part due to the improvement of the rest of the field.
"We are obviously not where we want to be. Truthfully, I feel like that's testament to the other teams too. That midfield group has made such a huge step,” he said.
"We've made a good step but relative to the others, maybe we are holding back a little bit.
"We've done a lot of changes within the team, last year into this year, there's been big changes around the DNA of the car, but also the structure of the team.
"When you put the team under that much work and do that many changes, it shows the cracks.”
Due to those cracks, scrutiny has been focused on team principal James Vowles, who joined the Williams in 2023 after 12 years at Mercedes.
His arrival saw an immediate improvement as Williams finished seventh in the Constructor’s Championship in 2023, three places better than the previous season.
They currently sit ninth but Albon still believes Vowles remains “the right man for the job”.
He said: "I have been very much a part of the project. James has brought me into it. He's very straight. He doesn't tell you things are better than they actually are, and I like that.
"I feel like whenever something's not come to plan he tells me the areas that the team needs to work on. He tells me if there's anything I can do to help.”
That pragmatism has rubbed off on the 28-year-old driver, who cannot see titles coming Williams’ way soon.
“If I am being totally honest, I don't see us being in position to fight for wins and titles for a while, but to do steps where we start nipping in and getting podiums,” said Albon.
"I believe that 2026 would be difficult, but winning in '27 would be much more realistic. We've got great investment, and we're recruiting very aggressively.”
Leclerc fastest in FP2 as Norris plays down chances of success in Baku
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was cautious about his chances of winning two Formula 1 races in succession for the first time in his career despite going fastest in the second practice of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Leclerc recovered from a crash in the morning to set the pace in the afternoon, 0.006 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez and 0.066 seconds in front of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
Championship leader Max Verstappen finished fifth, while his challenger Lando Norris struggled and languished in 17th after the second classification in Baku.
Despite going quickest, Leclerc admitted there were issues with his Ferrari car, leaving work to do if he wants to get pole position in Azerbaijan for a fourth successive year.
He said: "The thing is that when we started FP2 there was an actual problem on the car that we saw later on, once I stopped, and we changed that particular part.
"It's one of the tracks that I quite like, and we've been pretty quick in the past, but that doesn't mean it will be the case for tomorrow.
"I mean, the crash, there's not much to go into. I braked a little bit too much on the right, the track was still dirty, I locked up, and it was too late to go to the right [run-off] – so I went into the wall."
Norris endured a far more difficult afternoon, only mustering 17th after coming across Alpine's Pierre Gasly in the final sector when attempting his fastest lap.
The Brit cannot afford many slip-ups from now until the end of the season, as he looks to overhaul Verstappen's 62-point lead with eight races remaining, but was downbeat about McLaren's chances this weekend, believing they were lagging behind their competitive rivals.
"We're quite a long way off," Norris said.
"I’m having to push way too much to try and get a lap time out of it.
"Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, they're all very similar. And then there's a good 0.3 to 0.4 second gap back to us, so a lot of work to do.
"Ferrari are very quick here. Mercedes will be quick with these track conditions. It's very slidey out there."
Perez says media lack understanding of Red Bull issues
Sergio Perez accused the media of lacking understanding regarding Red Bull's recent issues, as the team rediscovered their pace in Friday's first practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Red Bull looked set to dominate Formula One again after making a flying start to 2024, but McLaren have made it a fight for the constructors' championship crown.
Max Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races of the season but has since failed to record a victory in six outings, while Perez has gone 11 races without a podium finish after achieving four in the first five races of the year.
Red Bull rediscovered their pace at first practice in Baku on Friday, though, with Verstappen finishing fastest ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Perez following in third.
Speaking ahead of that session, Perez acknowledged he had suffered more than Verstappen from difficulties with the team's RB20 car, but said many onlookers lacked understanding.
"I've had them probably for the last 15 months, with the car development, the direction, the trajectory we've been taking," Perez said of his issues.
"I think it's a thing with the style of Max. The good thing is he was less sensitive to the issues we had, just by his nature.
"Some people don't understand it, especially from the media side, that different driver styles can come to different conclusions.
"Ten, 12 races ago, I was complaining about these issues, but now they are so big that even Max is feeling them. I think the solution will benefit me even more with my style.
"It's very clear in the data, the team is fully aware of it and hopefully we can fix the issues soon going forwards. Then we can unlock a lot of performance from the car."
Friday's opening session at the Baku street circuit – where Perez is the only driver with multiple victories – saw Verstappen set a leading time of 1:45:546 on his last lap.
A chaotic session saw three red flags waved, with Charles Leclerc causing one of them when he hit a wall at Turn 15.
Williams rookie Franco Colapinto also hit a barrier less than 10 minutes after the session resumed, with the running also being paused to allow the removal of debris from a dusty surface.
McLaren's Lando Norris had the fourth-fastest time, with Carlos Sainz in fifth and Oscar Piastri sixth, ahead of Fernando Alonso and George Russell.
Norris targets drivers' championship win by 'fighting and battling' Verstappen
Lando Norris wants to try and topple Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship on merit, despite McLaren confirming they will prioritise the Briton over Oscar Piastri.
Norris, who is currently 62 points behind Verstappen ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend, is looking to bounce back from his second-place finish in Monza.
The Dutchman has not won in his last six Grand Prix's, which is his worst run since the end of the 2020 season, but Norris has only closed the gap to him by seven points in the standings.
McLaren's team principal Andrea Stella revealed the team would "bias" their operations towards Norris as they seek to win the drivers' and constructors' titles this season.
"I don't want to be given a championship," Norris started.
"Yes, it would be great to have a championship, and in the short term you feel amazing, but I don't think you'd be proud of that in the long run.
"It's not how I want to win a championship."
Norris has shown his ability to challenge the three-time world champion on track this season, with the Briton finishing on the podium 10 times so far.
The pair also locked horns at the Austrian Grand Prix, with Norris and Verstappen colliding on lap 64, forcing the former to retire in what could prove to be a pivotal moment in deciding who claims the drivers' championship.
Norris needs to gain an average of just under eight points a weekend over the remaining eight Grand Prix's to beat Verstappen to the title but wants to do it the right way.
"I want to win it by fighting against Max and beating Max, beating my competitors and proving I'm the best on track. That's how I want to race," Norris said.
But both Norris and Piastri played down the idea the Australian might be asked to sacrifice a win for his team-mate.
Norris said: "Probably not. In general, probably for lower positions, but if he's fought for a win and he's deserving of a win, then he deserves to win.
"Oscar is still fighting for his own racing, he's still going out and doing his stuff. And it could be that there's no time this year that he needs to help me.
"It's more that I've got Oscar's help when needs be, but he's still going out with that intent of every session of fighting for himself."
"The team have asked me to help out, and I've said for the last few races that if I was asked, then I would," Piastri added.
"Of course, naturally, as a driver, it's never an easy thing or a simple thing to agree to. But again, there's a much bigger picture in play than just myself.
"It still needs some more discussions, but the main point is it's not just going to be me pulling over for Lando every race because that's how none of us, including Lando, want to race.
"Trying to go through all the scenarios is impossible. We don't want to discuss that publicly, but the main one is if we feel one has done a much better job on a weekend, whichever way it is, we want that person to be rewarded.
"And that's where it becomes a little bit tricky still."
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