F1 News: Williams wants "too nice" Alex Albon to become more demanding of the team

Williams want more from Alex Albon.

Williams' technical director wants Alex Albon to be more direct and critical with the team moving forward, admitting that the 26-year-old is sometimes too nice. 

Albon was among the most consistent performers in the 2022 season, producing substantially better results than his teammate Nicholas Latifi. 

After a season on the sidelines in 2021, Albon proved more than capable of leading Williams in their efforts to climb the field after a series of difficult seasons. 

His points finish in Australia (a combination of driver skill and perfect strategy) seemed to receive more acclaim and post-race discussion than Leclerc's win in the streets of Melbourne. 

Despite the several positives in Albon's 2022 campaign, Williams is still far from consistently scoring points in F1's increasingly competitive midfield. 

Williams' Technical Director - Francois-Xavier Demaison - has outlined the areas where Albon can improve and help push the team further forward:

"Because of his experience [in F1], it's helped us and given us the right direction. 

"He's a nice person - sometimes too nice. He needs to be a bit more hard with the team and push us a bit more, but I'm working on this. 

"It's his nature - unless he has the helmet, then he can be hard - but he should be a bit harder in the debrief. 

"Every day I tell him, 'you have to be a...' - a word I will not pronounce! If you want to be a World Champion, you have to be like this."

These criticisms do not seem entirely unreasonable, given that critical feedback is essential to compete and develop in Formula 1. 

With that said, Albon's "nice" personality is likely to have little impact on Williams' actual development in the upcoming seasons.

The Grove-based team's competitiveness will be unrelated to diplomatic Albon speaks in post-race debriefs. 

Instead, Williams' progression will be dependent on how effectively they their resources to develop - an area they have proven severely lacking in recent years.

In any case, Albon will be expected to lead the team moving forward - especially with Logan Sargeant's arrival for the 2023 season.