Red Bull's Alexander Albon was delighted to take his first podium in F1 during this afternoon's Tuscan Grand Prix, after what he described as a 'really tough' race.
Albon managed to finish third to take the podium for the first time in his career after a move around the outside of Renault's Daniel Ricciardo in the closing stages of the race.
His podium finished marked the first time a Thai driver has stood on the podium in F1.
Speaking after the race, Albon said he had a great time during the race fighting the cars around him, but found the race tough, especially through the high-speed corners in sector two.
The Red Bull driver also spoke about overtaking Ricciardo towards the end, explaining that he needs to work on getting better starts off the line but was confident enough with the car's brakes to take third from the Renault.
"Yeah, it was good!" Albon said.
"Obviously, [it took] a while to get here. It was a tough one as well, we really had to work for it. It's really nice to be here and I feel like I can breathe. I
"I was expecting it to be worse, but we had several flags, so that helped. It was brutal, especially the high speed in sector two, you really feel it. But it was more adrenaline going into my body than anything else so I am happy.
"We just couldn't get off the line, so most of the overtakes had to be down the circuit. But are car is good on the brakes, we know that since day once, so we can kind of do moves like that and it is fun to drive."
Replies (6)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
looked much comfier in the car today.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I think he was marginally better, but that under normal circumstances he would have likely finished 6th on Sunday. Without Stroll crashing and bringing out the red flags there was no chance Albon was making it to the podium.
Hopefully I'm wrong because Albon is a nice bloke. But I expect him to be back to 0.5s behind Max, fighting with Mclaren/Renault/Racing point at the next race
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I kinda do too, but I am leaning towards the car being a blyat to handle and only Max seem to like it rather than Albon being wholly shoddy this season.
f1ski
Posts: 726
I will just say that may have been one of the best passes of the year. Danny Ricciardo is a much better racer than Lewis Lewis would have crashed Albon out again. If the Fia is serious about improving racing they need to allow the teams other than MB to make upgrades to catch up the racing has been great being the top 2. I would view that type of move as fair as the FIA has allowed MB to dominate the first 3 seasons of the turbo hybrid era and this covid season as well
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Albon know how to pull off some rad overtakes. Did so last year too.
Pistonhead
Posts: 556
err - not sure about the Ric comparison mate. I also dont agree it is for Mercedes to be penalised in the interest of the show - surely it must be for the others to catch up ??!