Having been involved in a fierce battle with Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, Williams racer Alexander Albon stated that he would have done the same if he had been in the Monegsque’s position.
Having displayed strong pace in qualifying, Williams split their strategies in the 63-lap Imola race. Carlos Sainz pitted early while his team-mate Alexander Albon stayed out to extend his opening stint.
When the virtual safety car was deployed, Albon took a cheap pit stop, and rejoined the track in third place. However, he was unable to keep Oscar Piastri at bay. In the dying stages of the race, the Thai driver was involved in a fierce battle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who ran on much older hards.
With only a few laps to go, Albon was forced wide into the gravel which lost him a place to Lewis Hamilton behind. Leclerc eventually let Albon through, but that was only for fifth when he had been fighting for P4 today.
“I’m very happy. P4 was possible today if the Safety Car didn’t come out at the end or if you take away the Charles incident, but I’m not going to say I’m disappointed with P5!
“I’m still very happy with the race; on pure pace we were running P4, P5, so we were able to extend the first stint and that set us up for the whole race. The consistent pace we’re showing opens up the window for what else we can do, so let’s keep going and enjoying it.”
Reflecting on his battle with Leclerc, Albon stated that the Monegasque remained fair while he was defending his position.
“When I look at the battle with Charles, I would probably have done the same; it wasn’t that crazy, he was just trying to hold his position, but then I lost out to Lewis.”
“Maybe I could have been a bit more patient with my overtake of Charles, but at that point in the race I was feeling so good that I was thinking: ‘Oscar is up ahead on worn tyres, maybe I could go after him!’
F1GP Emilia-Romagna
