Williams's Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant hope to end season on positive note

Abu Dhabi gears up for season-ending race this weekend

Williams drivers Logan Sargeant, left, and Alex Albon, centre, in Abu Dhabi. Ruel Pableo for The National

The pressure was evidently off the Williams drivers ahead the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

During an early meet and greet event at Jumeirah at Saadiyat Island Resort, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant seemed in an ebullient mood ahead of the season finale.

It was clearly a relief to the pair that things were nearing their conclusion, with both admitting that the last event in Las Vegas had its challenges.

Sargeant described the race as a “fun weekend”, but “everything we did was turned up to 11”.

“It was a lot of lights, a lot of fireworks,” Albon added.

It has a been a long season for the drivers.

“We’re going to need a couple of weeks after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to really let our minds and bodies relax,” Sargeant said.

The season has not been rapturous for the Williams drivers – currently, Albon sits in 13th slot, with Sargeant at 21 – but they remain upbeat about what is ahead, both in Abu Dhabi and next year.

They expressed positivity, though a sense of caution was clearly in the air for Sunday's race at Yas Marina Circuit.

“I think, speaking realistically, it’s not going to be the best track for us this weekend,” Sargeant said.

“However, we’ve thought that in the past and we’ve done okay, so we remain optimistic that conditions will play in our favour.”

“Hopefully we can have a good weekend,” Albon added.

“Sometimes you don’t expect to be good and it surprises you when you are, and sometimes you expect to be better.”

The jovial mood continued, much the amusement of the audience, with the conversation veering towards Albon’s hairstyles over the course of the season.

“I destroyed my hair,” the driver said after he’d bleached it white some months ago.

“I swear one driver copied me though.”

Banter aside, the drivers, alongside their compadres, will take to the track in earnest tomorrow, with the first practice sessions happening in the early afternoon.