"I’m sure Lando didn’t enjoy it": Alex Albon reflects on hard-earned points after pipping Lando Norris to P7 at Monza
Sep 04, 2023
Monza [Italy], September 4 : Alex Albon was one of the stars of the Italian Grand Prix weekend as he once again showed his defensive prowess to clinch a seventh-place finish and score additional significant points for Williams.
In Sunday's race at Monza, Albon had his mirrors full of Lando Norris's McLaren for the majority of the race. Despite this, Albon pulled out all the stops, including some expert vehicle placement on multiple occasions, to beat Norris to the finish line by three-tenths of a second.
Reflecting on his run to the points, and tight battle with Norris, Albon was quoted as saying by Formula 1, “[I’m] very happy – that was a tough one. I’m sure Lando didn’t enjoy it too much, but I did!
“We went into the race with that hot track temperature and we knew it was going to be a really tough race. On the laps to the grid before the race even started, I could tell it was going to be a long race. The degradation even on the laps to the grid was super high.
“It was pretty clear after four laps that it was going to be a tough one. When the McLarens came out of the pits behind me, I thought they were going to get past me, and now it’s trying to keep Fernando [Alonso] behind. But we managed to keep everyone behind.”
Albon nonetheless matched his best finish of the season from Canada, which also featured a defending masterpiece, despite losing one position from his P6 grid slot as Lewis Hamilton managed to overtake in his Mercedes late in the race.
With his race also completed on used tyres, the Thai-British racer – who scored consecutive points for the first time in his Williams career – added: “I wouldn’t want to do that race again, but I’m super happy. I think in moments like this, we’ve just come back from two races scoring points – as a team, we need to really enjoy these moments.
“From where we were at the start of the year to now, it’s been amazing. I don’t think the next few races are going to be easy for us. I think they are going to be tricky, so let’s enjoy these runs and get ready for maybe Vegas," he added.
