Albon: Hitting a "river" cost me third on Styrian GP grid
Red Bull Racing Formula 1 driver Alex Albon said a mistake when he hit a “river” on a his crucial last run in Q3 cost him a potential third place on the grid for the Styrian GP.
Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Albon had to settle for seventh place, five positions and 0.582s behind teammate Max Verstappen, but was convinced that he should have qualified just behind the Dutchman.
The British/Thai driver said that he was happier with the car this weekend, although he still found it tricky on the limit, having spun several times during the weekend.
“Q3 was looking okay,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com. “We did a couple of set-up changes and brought the car into the best window and unfortunately it was my mistake. I just locked up into Turn 4 and went wide.
“We were on actually for a pretty good lap. I think P3 was almost, I won’t say definite, but there was a lot of time there. Just my fault, braked a little bit later than I normally did.
"I had a bit more margin that I knew of, and the thing is there's a river going to Turn 4, and I just locked the outside front wheel in the river and went wide.
“Basically the track was just changing so much it was incredible. When the track gets greasy, the tyre starts to overheat, and you lose traction.
"When the track was really wet, the traction improves, but then you get aquaplaning down the straights and you get a little bit of a disconnected car when you go across rivers and things like that.
“There was a period there where no one was improving. And that's just the way the track was. In Q3 it was really hard rain until the last two minutes. That’s where my mistake hurt me the most, because I locked up on the best lap, when the track was quick.”
Both Albon and Verstappen eventually opted to run the team’s older spec front wing.
“We just thought it was a bit better, to be honest, better suited to the track and I felt that the old front wing was a bit stronger this weekend.”
“This weekend I'd say I found a little bit more difficult than last weekend, just need to figure out why.
“I think the package this weekend's a bit better, but just struggling to maximise it. Rain does tend to highlight areas with wherever you're you feel a bit weaker than others it can make the car harder to drive, like the rear being a bit on edge in some places.”
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
How an F1 underachiever became a Japanese political player
Williams to send Albon's F1 chassis back to UK for repairs before China
Albon worried about Williams F1 spares "before I even hit the wall"
The driving style secrets of F1's current stars
Red Bull’s 2026 F1 engine project “hitting the targets”, says Horner
Verstappen: Not smart to pick returning China for F1 sprint weekend
The ironic reason Newey thinks Red Bull hasn't been caught in F1 yet
Mercedes becomes first F1 team to exceed £500m turnover
Red Bull’s 2026 F1 engine project “hitting the targets”, says Horner
IndyCar tweaks split practice format for Long Beach
NASCAR Euro recap: "The Big One" erupts in Valencia
The secrets of F1 turbocharging explained
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
The ironic reason Newey thinks Red Bull hasn't been caught in F1 yet
How a carryover Alpine blighted by politics gave Ocon an improbable F1 win
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments