Albon highlights need for upgrades after P8 finish in F1 British GP

Williams driver Alex Albon before the F1 British GP, in the garage
Photo Credit: Williams Racing
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The F1 British GP brought its iconic rain clouds over Silverstone as Alex Albon claimed another points finish after crossing the checkered flag in P8 for Williams. This result is not Albon’s first top 10 appearance in 2025. Moreover, the Thai driver had a few great races this current season. While he did struggle with a series of DNFs in the last three races, his British GP experience had him above the likes of Fernando Alonso and George Russell.

Despite his bad luck streak over the Spain-Canada-Austria weekends, Albon was continuing to be fast. Currently eighth in the Drivers’ Championship, the Williams driver managed to harness all the potential out of his car. Yet, with summer break already in action, Albon could make an even bigger comeback than before.

Missed opportunities

Not only was the Silverstone circuit full of surprises, but it also gave the midfield drivers some time to shine. Compared to the guys in front of him, Alex Albon was somewhat lower than expected as a Sauber, Alpine and Aston all finished ahead. Nevertheless, Albon admitted he took on a safer strategy during the F1 British GP. The Thai driver recognised the risks and rewards of some of the other drivers and teams:

“No, I’m happy. It’s one of them ones where the ones at the back take the risks and they get the [I don’t know what the saying is] cherry pie. I think on a scale of risk and safe, we were pretty much in the middle. I think we played it well.”

Furthermore, Albon shared some details about the sacrifices he had to make when he was behind his teammate, Carlos Sainz. Even though the Thai driver is the one with more points as of now, Williams prioritised Sainz during this Grand Prix understandably as he was ahead throughout.

However, he did highlight his last lap overtake, which had him take that P8 from Alonso.

“On my side, a little bit compromised in the race because I was always behind Carlos [Sainz]. So we ended up clearly giving priority to Carlos on the stops and always losing quite a lot of lap time in doing the additional lap, let’s say. But we had really good pace towards the end of the race, we got in a good rhythm. And we got Fernando [Alonso] on the last lap, which was nice.”

The classic British weather difficulties

Making the lives of all drivers exponentially more difficult, the Silverstone circuit benefited from quite a heavy downpour. As all rookies ended up not finishing this race, Alex Albon pointed out what is to love about the F1 British GP and its rain. Sharing his love for the rain and the tough racing conditions, the Williams driver is one of the few who adore a bit of rain.

“I mean, I love the conditions. When the racing line is so small and there’s no room for mistake, I feel like you’re driving every lap a little bit like that. It’s great.”

Albon also believed that the damp track actually helped his Williams during the F1 British GP. He managed to avoid overheating his tyres and harness all the fast pace of his car.

“I think as well, we’ve been struggling this weekend in general, Williams, with the performance of the car. We were overheating the intermediates really badly. But because it was still damp on the slick tyre, it was actually putting our tyre temperatures in a good window. And we were quick.

“So I think we need to learn and understand why we were so quick on Sunday, compared to the rest of the weekend. After a disappointing qualifying session, we bounced back to a position that I think is where we deserve to be.”

Recovering after a tough qualifying

Alex Albon’s F1 British GP weekend did not start out so great. Being knocked out in Q2 was unfortunate for the Thai driver, who had the pace for more. However, Albon spoke with honesty about the incident, pointing out the multiple good moments he had with the team instead:

“Yeah, I mean, we’re always in this together. We’ve made many fantastic calls. And it’s just yesterday that we didn’t qualify where we should have been.”

Deciding to underline Alpine’s race or Hulkenberg’s first podium finish, Albon recognised that Williams were not looking to test their luck. Their strategy brought the Thai driver into the points, which was all that mattered to them.

“I think today, again, to be fair with you, Alpine really played it very well. I need to see Nico [Hulkenberg] in the race; I don’t understand how he finished third.

“But if you think about the position we’re in, we can’t take that many risks. We’re already in the points and there’s no point just rolling the dice. I think we played these weekends very well.”

The first 12 races of the season

With summer break allowing the drivers a bit of time to relax, Albon gave an overview of his 2025 season with Williams. Believing his first races were strong, the Thai driver briefly mentioned his potential in the races he DNFed from.

“Strong start, strong middle. I actually think we would have had a strong last four races if we… [did not DNF]. This is the first race I’ve finished in a while now. We finished, I think, with four points. So we’re not in a bad place, we just had a rough time of it.”

Furthermore, Alex Albon emphasised the need for upgrades as the other teams seem to be putting pressure. Keeping a somewhat hopeful approach, Albon spoke about how the F1 British GP data might help them figure out a way to stop the overheating issue. The Thai driver noticed the other teams catching up, and he would like Williams to “get back to where they were before”:

“We’ll have more time to do it with the data from this weekend. We’ve done a few tests in the car to see where this overheating problem is coming from. We need to still get on top of that for Spa.

“And at the same time, I see Sauber, I see Haas, they’re all getting quicker and quicker. They’ve put upgrades on their car. We’re now fourth in line. At least these last couple of weekends, we haven’t been the fifth quickest team. We’re definitely further down than that.

“We’re due an upgrade. We want one sooner rather than later. It will come on the car. Hopefully, when it does, we can get back to where we were before.”

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