Alex Albon clarifies Miami GP radio fiasco over race strategy

Alex Albon was evidently frustrated with his team's choice of race strategy.

Alex Albon via SI

The Miami Grand Prix saw British-Thai driver Alexander Albon finish in P14, which is a positive result for the likes of a backmarker team like Williams. His teammate, Logan Sargeant on the other hand did not live up to the expectations of being a home hero and finished dead last.

Quite notably during the race, Albon was seen arguing with his team in terms of the strategy presented to him, vocalizing his frustration. Speaking to the media after the race, he elaborated, “I think at the time I got told to manage the tyres, we weren’t catching the cars in front. So it was either try and not manage and try and catch the cars and overtake them, or just stay at the back.”

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He added, “But then at the same time, we wanted to push very hard in the first few laps with the tyre and it was making the tyre grain up, so I didn’t agree with that either. So a bit of everything.” Albon believes it’s better to adopt an aggressive approach and face the consequences later, rather than avoiding risks and settling for a last-place finish. This is why he expressed his disagreement with the alternative approach.

Despite having a backmarker car beneath him, Albon has consistently impressed at Williams thus far and has scored their solitary point so far in 2023, while Logan Sargeant continues to struggle to find consistency.

Alex Albon has been impressive so far in 2023

The former Red Bull driver has been producing strong performances this year, even scoring a point. This is encouraging for a team that has built probably the slowest car this year. Albon looked to finish strong in Miami after qualifying so he start P11, ahead of even Lewis Hamilton.

Nonetheless, he dropped down to P14, but was strong, beating the likes of McLaren and Haas. This season he has averaged a finish of P12, just outside of the points, whilst qualifying with an average grid spot of P16. He has even scored the team’s only point this year at Bahrain.

Just two drivers beat their teammate in EVERY qualifying session so far: Alonso and Albon!

RUS has been better than HAM in quali, but the latter got more points in the end! (56 vs 40, also impacted by RUS's DNF in Australia)

How do you expect this stat to change??#F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/xWsdP7pWul
— Formula Data Analysis (@FDataAnalysis) May 10, 2023

After delivering an outstanding performance in the qualifying, Albon claimed that his race performance accurately reflected the car’s true form compared to its rivals in race trim. He also mentioned that the Miami track’s layout did not play to Williams’ strengths.

Albon continues to look promising as the season progresses, and should Williams find a way to improve their machinery, Albon could become a regular in contention for the point-scoring positions, as he is carrying forward momentum well.