“I felt it was quicker for both of us if I stayed ahead” : Alex Albon justifies him ignoring blue flags and not letting Charles Leclerc pass him

Alex Albon has clarified why he exasperated Charles Leclerc by unwilling to let the Ferrari driver lap him during the Monaco Grand Prix. On lap 18, the Williams driver surfaced from the pits ahead of Leclerc. Albon had shifted to wet tyres after switching to intermediate rubber two laps earlier.

Leclerc passed Albon at Massenet, but Albon denied to let him pass despite repeated blue flags around the rest of the lap. The Ferrari driver became increasingly agitated, exclaiming “Come on! What the f**k?” on his radio as he followed the Williams. As the next lap began, Albon’s race engineer directed him to let Leclerc pass. However, the Williams swerved off the track at Sainte Devote, allowing Leclerc to pass.

The Williams driver upheld his unwillingness to make way, claiming that his wet tyres allowed him to immediately re-pass Leclerc if he had let the F1-75 pass. “It’s tricky because we went out on slicks and we had a massive pace advantage. It would take three corners to let him past and then I would have been straightaway quick enough to re-overtake him again,” said the British-Thai driver.

Also Read: “I would have done six or seven pit stops” : Alex Albon claims that his tyres were gone after one lap in the Spanish GP

“It’s one of those awkward situations” : Alex Albon

“You get into a position where, in my eyes, for both of us, it was quicker if I just stayed ahead, because I would have pulled away pretty much straight away. So that’s it really. It’s one of those awkward situations. But in my eyes it was a bit like if we let him right past we’re going to overtake him straight back again,” added the Williams driver in reference to the incident with Monacan driver Charles Leclerc.

Albon was satisfied with his car’s performance notwithstanding the error and later retirement due to a technical conundrum. He went on to praise the pace of the FW44 and mentioned how he felt strong enough in the car yesterday.

“So we do have positives and we know race pace is a positive for us. So as bleak as today was or the result was, I think it’s been a step forward for us,” concluded Albon. During the race, Albon received a five-second time penalty for having an advantage over Haas’ Mick Schumacher by slashing across the chicane. The stewards assessed him one penalty point, bringing his final tally to four.

Also Read: “We didn’t discuss it,” Charles Leclerc shares the insights of strategy in the Monaco GP

Also Read: “We need to do better,” Charles Leclerc unhappy with Ferrari’s strategy after a disappointing P4 finish

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