Alex Albon: “Baku was one of the easier races”

For many drivers, Baku was an uncomfortable weekend. Carlos Sainz complained of porpoising during the free practice sessions, but perhaps it was not as extreme for any driver as it was for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion seemed in a world of pain following the end of the race.

Both George Russell and Carlos Sainz, along with other drivers, have called on the FIA to look at the severity of the bouncing and the porpoising issues in the new generation of cars. Baku was one of the worse weekends for porpoising: with a bumpy track and the 2.2km long straight, it must have made for an uncomfortable ride.

However, Alex Albon did not feel that way. According to him, the car had felt good in Baku, and physically, it was a much easier drive compared to many of the other races. As quoted by GPfans, Albon said:

“It was easy, it was one of the easier races I thought. Much easier than Miami or anything like that. It was a fun race actually with these kinds of tires where you can push them flat out, it feels like a proper sprint race – at least it felt for me. Yeah, not too bad.”

Also Read: “We are struggling to cope,” Carlos Sainz raises voice against porpoising

Alex Albon was disappointed with the lack of points despite the strong pace

The race had two virtual safety car periods, both with mechanical retirements. The first was on lap 10 with Carlos Sainz, and the second with Kevin Magnussen, on lap 31. While Albon’s rivals during the race were able to take advantage of the second safety car period, Albon could not, as he had already pit for a second set of hard tires, just a few laps ago.

“I think it was the right decision for us [to stop for a second time].”

“It was a shame about the VSC because it felt like if we didn’t lose 10, 15 seconds-odd to the drivers around us we could have been in the fight for points but again, our race pace was actually really strong.”

He felt that they were on pace with the midfield teams, but were compromised by the virtual safety car period: “If you look at the pace compared to the McLarens, the Alpines, we were on pace with them when we had clean air.”

“We missed out on points but we had a good start, we optimised what we had and it was a good job from us.”

Alex Albon has scored all 3 of Williams’ points this season, even though they have been unable to score any for the last 4 races. A weekend such as Baku, even though disappointing, may mean better things are to come in the next few races.

Also Read: “I was expecting a standing start,” Alex Albon was taken aback by a rolling restart in Monaco

Also Read: “It was tricky,” Alex Albon explains the blue flag incident involving Charles Leclerc in Monaco

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