In the end, Alexander Albon can even get a little annoyed about fifth place. For a long time, the Williams pilot even fought for a podium – and even on his own – but in the end he paid tribute to a hard maneuver by Charles Leclerc and had to let the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton go.
“Yes, already strange, right?” He laughs at “Sky”. “In the pure course of the race, we were in the fight for P3, P4 – without safety car.”
The Thai area admits that Williams was “a bit lucky” at the time of the virtual safety car, but the second safety car for Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s stranded car did not play in his cards for this.
Albon had not let the morning stubborn to the box on his tires, but held on to his original strategy. As a result, he was even on a podium rank before the virtual safety car came for the Haas from Esteban Ocon. Appropriately, he took the chance and switched to hard tires.
He had to surrender to the fast McLaren from Oscar Piatri, but with fourth place there was still a very strong result. He was lying ahead of Lewis Hamilton for almost seven seconds when a few rounds later came the real safety car.
Albon also took the chance to stop, but the lead was gone – and first the position against Charles Leclerc, who had stayed on his tires. However, the Monegasse had problems on the old tires in the final phase – and as an Albon in curve 1, there was an unsightly situation for him.
Too overzealous against Charles Leclerc?
Albon wanted to go outside in curve 1, but was sent to the gravel bed by Leclerc. This was used by his teammate Lewis Hamilton to push the Williams to sixth place. Leclerc had to give back his position against Albon, but fourth place was gone.
“Today I drive away and I’m a bit disappointed – which somehow feels strange, to say that,” says Albon. “I think I could have tackled the duel with Charles differently, there would have been more in it.”
“Maybe I should have been a little more patient in the overtaking maneuver against Charles,” he admits. But the prospect of being able to grasp him in front of him even after Piatri’s podium was too tempting. “I thought maybe I could even get Oscar in front, the pace with the new tires was so good,” he explains.
But fifth place was also a strong result for Williams. “We were traveling near a podium on our own,” says team boss James Vowles. “Alex delivered an absolutely strong race. I was sitting on the edge of the chair when he fought against the Ferraris.”
“In the end he was left behind, but at least he still overtook one of them. I am proud of what he achieves today and how he drove.”
How long does the strong Williams shape last?
Albon already has 40 points in the account, and because Carlos Sainz was also able to score as eighth, the lead over the first pursuer of Williams is already 31 points. After Miami it was the second fifth place in a row for the Thai area – nobody would have expected that before the season.
“It’s strange. Honestly, I keep saying myself: that doesn’t happen again, that’s just this one race. And then the next comes – and we are really quick again,” he says.
“And then you think: Is this all just by chance or not? I would honestly say: in Miami and here we were quick, in my opinion even unexpectedly quickly this weekend. I expected Miami to be good – but not here.”
“And it somehow opens the window for more,” he says. “Maybe we’ll be strong again next week. I actually think that Monaco will not be so bad for us. In Barcelona, however, we will probably have to fight. But as long as it is going, let’s enjoy it.”