"We had a great start," says William Racing F1 team driver
Jul 05, 2023
Styria [Austria], July 5 : In the Austrian Grand Prix race on Sunday, Williams Racing team driver Alex Albon finished in the 11th position and failed to score points for his team. After the race, he said that a great start but couldn't use it to gain any positions.
Albon and Williams arrived at the Red Bull Ring after the Thai-British driver's fine run to seventh in Canada, giving the Grove outfit their second points finish of the season and lifting them above AlphaTauri at the foot of the F1 standings.
A move from intermediate tyres to slicks in the Sprint - while several other cars stayed out - dropped him to 13th, while a race-long challenge for a point in the Grand Prix ended with a P11 finish, having been overhauled by Aston Martin's Lance Stroll late on.
According to the official website of Formula 1, Alex Albon said, "We had a great start and couldn't really use the start to find a position, to gain any positions. The first stint on medium tyres was quite fun, I had the Red Bull of Sergio Perez around me, I had George Russell behind me, and it felt like I was in a good place."
He added, "I struggled a little bit on that first prime hard tyre, we came out after the Virtual Safety Car within a lot of the guys who started on primes. To be fair, Kevin Magnussen is good at defending and he kept me behind longer than I should have been, so I destroyed my tyres a bit fighting him."
"I struggled a bit through that whole stint and when I saw Stroll pit ahead, I knew. It's the Jaws music coming from behind and he got me."
Albon added that Williams' next opportunity to score points is likely to come at the Belgian Grand Prix and the fast, flowing Spa-Francorchamps circuit later this month, following visits to Silverstone and the Hungaroring.
"P11 I think is all we could have done today. In the Sprint, I think we should have been in the points. I think we should have come away from this weekend with points - it's a track that suits us more than others.
"Maybe Spa, I'm thinking, could be the next chance, but it's great progress, we're showing that we're now fighting. Also, Logan Sargeant had a great race in P13, so it was a great race for both of us. We're making progress and that's the main thing."
