Start, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2019

Albon thought he had chance for first podium

2019 Mexican Grand Prix

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Alexander Albon believed he had a chance for his first podium finish in the Mexican Grand Prix today.

The Red Bull driver dropped out of third place after he committed to a two-stop strategy at his first pit stop, and ended the race in fifth.

Asked whether he thought during the race he could finish on the rostrum today Albon said, “Yeah, the first 15 laps!”

“Then we did the two-stop, obviously. I’m not sure if we could have done one-stop. I think we will have to have a better look at it.

“In some bits of the race our race pace was quite good on used tyres. And then, saying that, I think we’ll have to have a better look at the factory and see if we could’ve done it.”

Having been the first of the front-running drivers to pit, Albon lost time behind Carlos Sainz Jnr’s McLaren, which allowed the Mercedes drivers to get ahead of him.

“The real problem was every time I did a stop I’d come out in traffic [and] fight,” he said. “I lost a lot of time with Carlos.”

Albon admitted he was surprised how much of a fight Sainz put up. “I was a bit confused because I didn’t think I was racing Carlos,” he said. “And I don’t think we were. But he defended well. I lost like six seconds or something stupid. So that was a bit of a shame.”

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8 comments on “Albon thought he had chance for first podium”

  1. I must admit I did too.

    Great job by Albon at the start – positioned his car well and took advantage of the mess. Then settled into a good rhythm behind the leaders.

    Unfortunately their strategy didn’t work out, and in hindsight was probably not all that good as it was too close to bringing him out behind Sainz even with a mega pit stop which compromised his track position.

    He’s definitely doing a good enough job to justify his promotion though.

    1. @dbradock Me too. Actually before the weekend started I even thought we could see an Albon win if Max messed up (which he did). Ferrari and particularly Mercedes seem to have got to terms better with Mexico this year, though. And the one stop clearly seemed a better option in hindsight.

  2. Why is he so slow? So many races and never once challenged a Ferrari or Mercedes… I think even Gasly overtook a Ferrari once…

    1. @Marty But he’s overall been more consistent in bringing the results, and been closer to Max on pace, as well as, has had fewer struggles in traffic than his predecessor had in the RB15, which was the major contributor that eventually led to the summer-break swap.

    2. Slow? He posted the EXACT SAME time as the “great” Max Verstappen last race. Didn’t see Gasly ever do that, only lucking into qualifying ahead once due to K Mag binning it and bringing out the red flag in Canada.

      Albon is doing a good job. Miles more impressive than the Gasman.

    3. He’s just a number 2 driver, see him like a bottas, he’s not supposed to do what verstappen did in the first season, he’s there to bring reliable points and some podium.

    4. He is faster than Gasly in atop team, Gasly can enjoy being better than Albon is TR though, ALbon as nearly overtaken Gasly in standings in way less races in RB

  3. first half.

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