Alex Albon finished the F1 Mexico City GP in P12 after a difficult race. The Williams driver was one of two who opted to start on the hard tyre, along with Franco Collapinto.
This was not the preffered strategy, with most of the grid starting on the soft tyre compund and switching to the medium during the pit stops.
Albon discusses the hard tyre and one stop strategy used for the F1 Mexico City GP
Albon’s Williams teammate, Carlos Sainz ran a different strategy for the Mexico City GP. The Spaniard opted for a two-stop, starting on the softs. However, Sainz’s race was affected after exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane, resulting in a five second penalty, a second offence earned him a drive- through penalty. Sainz also came to a stop with three laps remaining after crashing in the stadium section, ending his race.
The hards were not a good race tyre for Albon. However, the team were committed to a one stop, so did not change their strategy during the race. That was something the Thai was not happy with it afterwards.
“I can confirm that the hard tyre was not good in the race, and I think that just affects the whole strategy. So once the hard wasn’t working, I think we had chances to be dynamic and convert to a two stop.
“But I think we were just a bit too stuck in our ways and we just committed to something that wasn’t working. When you do that you’re just in no man’s land.
“I think the messaging was, we’re looking good, we’re on a one-stop. But the ones on the two-stop were already ahead of me, still to do their second stop.
“So very painful and just slow.”
Alex Albon finished the Mexico City GP in P12 out of the 16 drivers who took the chequered flag. The 29-year-old had some say in Sunday’s strategy decision, as well as blaming his result on his lack of race pace.
“I think it’s a joint decision. I’m not throwing strategy under the bus. I think that when you’re in that position though, you don’t have to go to lap 40 or lap 50 to pit. You can go a bit different and then that’s it really.
“I would say the pace was okay. To be honest with you, I didn’t really have the pace either. So back to the drawing board for Brazil.”
Alex Albon on the team orders call from the Williams pit wall
Albon was asked to swap positions with Sainz on lap 51 of the F1 Mexico City GP. This was a confusing call for the driver because he was on a different strategy to his teammate. However, upon reflection he understood that Sainz was on a faster strategy. Admitting that he “didn’t really understand the picture at the time.”
“Yeah, I think in my head at the time I didn’t understand what the team orders were. Because I thought Carlos was on a two and I was on a one.
“But then his two was so quick that he was already ahead of me. So, I was like, you know what, okay, I understand how it’s working. It just felt like I just needed to understand the picture.
“I didn’t really understand the picture of the race at the time.”
Albon on how he can improve before the F1 Brazilian GP
Alex Albon was unable to fight for points at the F1 Mexico City GP, struggling with the driveablility of the car, as well as starting on the unfavoured tyre compound. Albon stated that this was his “most difficult weekend of the year.”
The Williams driver has had a good run of points this season, currently sitting comfortably in P8 in the drivers’ championship, 32 points ahead of Nico Hülkenburg. If he stays in P8, this will be his highest finish in the drivers’ championship for Williams, matching his 2019 result with Red Bull.
“It’s probably been my most difficult weekend of the year. In terms of pace, it’s been the most difficult race of the year. I don’t think we really understand why.
“Normally, this is quite a good track for me. It’s not a bad one and I feel a little bit out of bed. It’s been a couple of races where we’ve been struggling a little bit.
“We need to figure out where its coming from. We can see it in the data; we can see the issues I’m having with the car. But we need to just regroup, reassess, have a good catch up before Brazil.
“I think we know the areas we need to focus on. We just don’t know why the car is doing the stuff it’s doing. I’m sure there’s a bit of driving in there as well, but I think we can just help ourselves and get back to Q3s and Q2s.”
The Thai driver hasn’t scored points in a Grand Prix since the Italian GP in Monza, where he finihsed P7. This is his longest run without a top ten finish all season. However, Albon did score points during the Sprint Race at the US GP after he finished P6.
