Albon, 9th in Miami: “A very big weekend”
After his second points finish, Alex Albon had a smile on his face. The Thai driver is pleased with the result, knowing that it was also due to the collisions of the drivers in front of him.
Missing from Formula 1 for a year after a disappointing stint at Red Bull in 2020, Alex Albon didn’t miss a beat upon his return to the premier category. Joining Williams to replace George Russell, who was hired by Mercedes, the Thai driver quickly showed that he hadn’t lost his racing skills.
The British team’s FW44 is one of the least well-born in the paddock. However, Alex Albon managed to extract its essence to score points twice. In Melbourne, in particular, the former Red Bull driver executed a superb strategic move by keeping his hard tires until the last lap to secure tenth place and open Williams’ account. This single point felt like a victory for the team with a glorious past, which hadn’t scored any points in ten races.
In Miami, Albon reiterated his Australian performance to cross the line in tenth place and benefit from Fernando Alonso’s penalty to take ninth place after the race. A great pride for the Thai driver.
« I am super happy. If you look at the whole weekend, I would say that it is obviously much less surprising than Melbourne. We were in the top 10 during two practice sessions, so consistently there. So P10 is, I think, where we should have been all weekend.
» The 26-year-old driver is delighted.
Alex Albon entered the points thanks to numerous incidents ahead of him, which eliminated Gasly and Norris, and then Schumacher and Vettel, who collided at the very end of the Grand Prix while holding onto ninth and tenth place. A stroke of luck for the Williams number 23, which was able to overtake both Germans and finish P10.
Of course, we were lucky to have a few collisions with the cars ahead, but we were right behind them, catching up as well. So, I am very happy. It was a really big weekend, says Albon.
The Thai driver was, however, very disappointed with his qualification, considering he was 18th on the starting grid. This was an anomaly for someone who had managed to reach Q2 once during the first Grand Prix in Bahrain.
The anomaly is the qualification. And we need to understand where to find the performance, because I think we had it in Bahrain, and we just lost our footing a bit. We got a well-deserved point. It was a frustrating qualification, and getting this bonus is really good, details Alex Albon.
With three units, the former Red Bull driver is fifteenth in the standings just ahead of a certain Fernando Alonso, who, thanks to his penalty, gave him the two points of ninth place.
