Claiming that new team principal James Vowles is already making a difference, Alex Albon admits that the Williams is still off the pace.

Though the Grove outfit had the second highest mileage over the three days of testing, pace was somewhat disappointing with both drivers over 2s off the pace even on the softest compound.

Opting not to follow the traditional route of playing down the results, Alex Albon admits that the FW45 is currently the slowest car out there.

"I'm possibly a little bit more pessimistic than optimistic," he told reporters as the Bahrain race weekend got underway. "At least from the initial look we are the tenth quickest team.

"I know I said this last year but it's really about how we go through the year," he continued. "Are we understanding the car better? We are obviously still without a technical director, but we need to see progress in the areas we do feel limited driving-wise.

"If we do see progress, we're clearly heading in the right direction," he added. "We've already done a step, but we need to continue and see more of that.

"It's clear with the wind in testing and depending on the angle of the wind, it was very tricky for us. A couple of corners, I've said it to you before, the low-speed corners we are struggling.

"If we can end the season better than we started, which we did last year, I'll be happy," he admitted. "Of course, taking the moments we can, Monza and Spa, these type of circuits, will continue, I believe, to be quite good for us. We just want to be quicker and have the chance more often.

"We definitely have made a better car," he insisted, "but in terms of pace, everyone has. It's all relative. When I look at it, we're going to really have to fight for a chance of points. It's not going to be an easy one, something has to happen for that to happen."

Asked who he perceives as Williams direct rivals, his response will not have filled countryman Lando Norris with confidence.

"When I look at testing, we've been very reliable, which is a very good positive to have," he said. "Being the first race of the year, there is a bit of reliability problems and hopefully we can take advantage of that.

"But in terms of pure pace, I think there's a lot of teams out there that have made big steps, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, and I'm sure the Alpine will be good. Around us, our direct rivals are AlphaTauri and McLaren. I still think we're a little bit behind, but let's see."

Though the team has yet to appoint a replacement for technical director FX Demaison, who left the team suddenly in December along with team boss Jost Capito, Albon says the arrival of James Vowles from Mercedes has had a positive impact already.

"George (Russell) touched on it in testing," he said. "He (Vowles) clearly had a big involvement in all areas of the team at Mercedes, he knows a lot about all the moving parts. And coming from a team like Mercedes, which has obviously had a lot of success, for him to have all that knowledge, it reminds me a bit of my first time at Red Bull.

"When I joined this team, coming from a team with all that success, it's ears open, really seeing if there are changes we can make short-term, long-term, even driving wise, maybe the drivers pay a bit more attention to certain things, it's been very useful.

"You can see how motivated he is. It's only been ten or eleven days but already it feels like he's pointing the ship in a different direction. It's tricky because the change is late, and we want to see the effects straight away, but through the year, it should show."

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