'The pace is there' – Sainz and Albon praise Williams' 'encouraging' Friday ahead of Italian GP

Williams drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon were left encouraged after Friday's practice sessions ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, believing "we're in a good place".

Sainz finished third fastest in both one-hour sessions at the Monza Circuit, while Albon was left in seventh on both occasions and best of the rest behind the McLarens, Ferraris, and Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

While Sainz was less than one-tenth slower than FP2 pace-setter Lando Norris, the Spaniard's best lap had come at the second time of asking on the soft tyre.

"The pace is there, we were quick," said Sainz, who has not finished in the points in the last five Grands Prix. "On long runs, short runs, the balance felt in a decent window but there's a couple of corners and the soft tyre that we need to sort out.

"We manage to sort this out and I can get myself a bit more comfortable in the car then hopefully there's even more to come.

"Promising pace as I said, now I just need to make sure I feel more comfortable on the first lap on softs when you put the first lap on the tyre and also a bit in a couple of corners where I'm still lacking a bit. But all in all, with all those things, good pace."

Albon also echoed the comments made by his team mate, admitting that consistency and not speed will be Williams' biggest challenge this weekend if the team is to collect a big haul of points.

"It's more just can we make it repetitive and can we get the same car that we got today for tomorrow," he said.

"There's a lot of work to be done and I think we have sweet spots and we've seen it time and time again this year, our out-laps and getting the tyres in the right window is going to be tricky so we just need to make sure we can actually execute what we want to do.

"Good points for sure [is the goal]. I think we've always come here, we've always focused on the top of the midfield and I think we can, we've got reasonable car pace today so let's see if it carries on."