Alex Albon declared Williams will compete with the top Formula 1 teams again, citing Aston Martin's success as an "inspiration".
The Thai-British driver said Williams want to follow Aston Martin's example and make the extra step to start competing for podiums. The Silverstone-based outfit has surprised the paddock this season with Fernando Alonso achieving a treble of podiums in the first three races.
It is a huge improvement from last season, when the team finished seventh in the constructors' championship and scored double figure points at only one race. Albon sees Aston Martin's success as a shining example that any team can make a similarly sudden leap.
Speaking exclusively to Mirror Sport in Baku, he said: "When you look at Aston Martin you see the progress they've made, to me it's actually a sign of inspiration and it motivates everyone to show that it is possible to join the top three teams in the championship.
"That's really what we are going towards. We want to be like Aston Martin. We want to make that step where we can fight for podiums."
Despite Williams currently sitting bottom of the constructors' championship the British team has shown promising signs with Albon qualifying P8 in Melbourne. He went one place better in the Saturday 'shootout' in Baku, qualifying seventh but just fell out of the points in the Sprint.
Albon also reflected on his team's progress since the 2022 season and believes, outside of Aston Martin, Williams have made the biggest performance gains compared to their rivals.
He said: "It's easy to look at Aston Martin and see the job they have done and see how much they've improved, but if you look at ourselves towards our rivals, we're one of the teams who have made the biggest jump outside of Aston Martin.
"We're really put ourselves more toward the midfield and I don't see us losing that so I feel like we are in a position now where we've got opportunities. More opportunities will come."
Albon is optimistic about Williams' future and asserted he would not have signed a long-term contract without the belief that the team is well placed to achieve better results in the future.
He added: "Unfortunately, we haven't scored in every race when we did have the opportunity, but we saw last year we scored points when, realistically, we didn't really have the car to do it, this year we have a car that can.
"It gives me energy, it gives me motivation for this year to do a good job and help score some more points."
