2023-06-19 11:15:03
Seventh in the Canadian Grand Prix, Alex Albon spent the end of the race driving with his eyes in the rear view mirrors, trying to capitalize on the top speed of his Williams.
Tenth on the grid following a tactical move in Q2 qualifying, Alex Albon took advantage of this starting position to claim a seventh place finish. Williams indeed implemented an optimal one-stop strategy in which he was able to gain positions on the track and then capitalize on, among other things, the top speed of the FW45 to keep his rivals behind him.
Albon stressed that his strategy was driven by the need not to do the same as his direct opponents. “Honestly, I think we had a similar pace to the McLaren all weekend”he said when Motorsport.com asked him regarding his race. “I think, to be realistic, where we were, we had to do something different from them, because they were ahead of us to score points.”
“And yes, we had a very good pace this weekend, but scoring points was still difficult. You have these eight cars, the Astons [Martin]THE Red BullTHE FerrariTHE Mercedes, [et puis] the last two positions, one has the impression that they now return to the Alpine. So we had to stick to one stop.”
Once his stop was made, to go from medium to hard on the 12th lap, Albon gradually gained places. When his direct opponents went through the pits, around halfway through the race, the second phase of his GP began: “When the guys told me I had, I don’t know how much, 35-40 laps left – I think they even told me 20 to reassure me – and I looked at the screen, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I hope that’s not true.’ I groaned just because I thought, ‘Ahhhh…’. I’ve experienced this many times before. kind of racing. I can tell you it’s not a lot of fun.”
Alex Albon during the Canadian GP.
To take advantage of the speed of his F1, Albon notably had to be particularly efficient at the exit of the hairpin which conditions the long full load towards the last chicane. “We are good in defence, we have a straight-line car. And in this kind of situation you obviously have a big tire deficit, but at the same time you save the tires to negotiate the key corners well.
“So in turn 10, I made sure to position the car to put Esteban [Ocon, qui a fini huitième] in the dirty air to try to get him to mess up his tires, reduce his traction and so on. You’re having a race that’s played out in your mirrors, although you’re obviously trying not to make mistakes.”
“The other thing is that when the tread reduces, the tires start to cool down considerably, and you have to start pushing, and at the end of the race you see white parts where you are closest some cobweb.”
“You have to push hard, it feels like qualifying for the last 20 laps. At the same time, you can’t afford to make a mistake, there’s a real balance between the two. is what we have chosen!”
“It’s almost like you have to do enough to keep them behind you and make sure you still have enough in the tank for the rest of the race. It’s something quite difficult to assess. I don’t mightn’t have done it without a good car. I mean, honestly, this weekend we had a really good car.”
With Adam Cooper
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