Williams F1 driver Alex Albon has opened up about the loss of radio transmission, the damages sustained, his start infringement, his collision with Lewis Hamilton, and the penalty he received following his retirement from the Las Vegas GP on Saturday.
Wet weather hit the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, and Albon left the session in Q1 after tapping the wall on his final push lap.
The Thai-British driver’s race under the neon lights only took a turn for the worse as he lined up in P16. The stewards issued him a reprimand after noting him for a starting procedure infringement.
In the meantime, Gabriel Bortoleto ramming into the side of Lance Stroll resulted in Albon locking his tyres to avoid contact. He navigated through the carnage and gained a position before an early VSC slowed the field down.
Lap 13 saw Hamilton run slightly deep at Turn 12, with Albon battling the seven-time champion for twelfth place. The Williams driver clipped the rear of the Ferrari, lost his front wing endplate, and promptly boxed.
Albon was seen frantically pointing at his front wing when he pitted. However, the lack of radio meant that the pit crew were unaware of the damage and merely changed his tyres.
As a result, the 29-year-old needed to return to the pits one lap later to replace the front wing, dropping him to the back of the pack.
To add insult to injury, the stewards handed Albon a five-second penalty for the contact with Hamilton. He served it during a third trip to the pits and finally retired from the race on Lap 35.
Challenges of racing without radio and missed opportunity
Speaking in the print media pen after the F1 race, Alex Albon reflected on how the communication blackout jeopardised his already difficult evening in Nevada. He expressed his frustration over the team being unable to communicate the extent of the damage his FW47 had sustained on the frenetic opening lap of the Las Vegas GP.
“Well, we didn’t have radio at any point in the race. So throwback, kind of old school style. Pit boards out.
“It was a shame because after Lap 1 with all the crashing and everything, there was clearly damage on the car. But it was hard to know if it was safe to drive. You’re kind of just, ‘oh, it’s turning’.
“I know there was damage because I hit the car in front and I think I got hit from the back. Yeah, it was a frustrating one.”
When asked if it was not really worth continuing, Albon agreed and emphasised the increased risks of driving around a street circuit without radio communications to guide him. At the same time, he lamented that the solid pace he still had during the race was ultimately of no use.
“I think so. If you think about it, no radio, no awareness of blue flags, and all kinds of things can happen. Even just on little things like Safety Cars and debris on the track, kind of having to discover it myself and all these kind of things.
“So you can imagine, it’s not ideal. On a track like Vegas, it’s a bit dangerous. So yeah, we cut it short.
“It’s clearly an opportunity missed this weekend. I think we’ve been very strong in terms of pace. And even in the race when I had clear air, I was very quick, so yeah.”
Albon uncertain what prompted the radio issues
As for whether the Grove-based squad had already informed him of the cause of his radio failure from the very beginning of Saturday’s Las Vegas GP, Alex Albon responded, “No.”
Nevertheless, the Williams driver acknowledged how minor issues have been inconveniencing them towards the end of the season and that they need to get on top of them to maximise their race weekends.
“We’ve gone through a few remnants these last few weeks. Just need to kind of get on top of everything.
“We’ve had a lot of… not normally stopping problems, like retirement problems. But a lot of these little ones, which we’ve been battling for the end of the season.”
How the start and Lap 1 unfolded for Albon
In terms of the first-lap carnage at the F1 Las Vegas GP, Alex Albon stated that he was unsure of what had exactly transpired. Nonetheless, he depicted how Bortoleto sent it up the inside of several cars and caused them to hit one another.
“I don’t know. Without radio, I don’t know anything.
“Gabi [Bortoleto] kind of went in on the inside. And then everyone had to slam the brakes to try to get away from him. We all concertinaed up. I got hit from the back. I hit the car in front. Maybe that.”
Asked to shed some light on the start procedure problem, Albon couldn’t provide a definitive answer. However, he surmised that the radio malfunction had contributed to the misdemeanour, since drivers count on their race engineers for guidance.
“Yes, maybe I didn’t have the pit limiter on.
“We have so many procedures for the start, and it does help when the engineer tells you every single one when you start. I imagine it would have been that.”
Penalty for the Hamilton incident surprised Albon
Addressing his collision with Hamilton during the first half of the Las Vegas GP, Alex Albon explained how the 40-year-old making a mistake had opened the door for a potential overtake. Furthermore, he revealed that the Ferrari driver hitting the brakes considerably early into Turn 14 caught him out.
Noting that he hadn’t pushed the seven-time champion off the track or inflicted any significant damage on the SF-25, the 29-year-old admitted that the stewards opting to hit him with a penalty surprised him.
“He [Hamilton] made a mistake in the corner before, so I had a run on him. Being totally honest, I was surprised how early he broke into turn 14. And it just caught me out.
“Maybe after his mistake in the corner before, maybe he was a bit tentative in the next one. So when I went for the overtake, it just surprised me how [early he hit the brakes]. I tried as hard as I could to avoid it.
“I don’t know why I got a penalty for that because he didn’t go off the track. He didn’t have any problems.
“Like I said, I don’t think it was a deserved penalty because he continued, and he was fine. But it happens.”
Claiming that he was unaware of how severe his penalty was, Albon also gave an amusing summary of his miserable race without the constant chatter on the team audio.
“Lap number, went to box, and then a version of box because you’ve got a penalty. Just served my five seconds. I don’t know what I got. Five seconds or ten seconds.
“So yeah, like I said, old school. It was peaceful out there.”
