Alexander Albon admitted to having mixed feeling over the result of the Australian Grand Prix as the Anglo-Thai driver felt points would have been a possibility had he not found himself in the train of cars stuck behind Antonio Giovinazzi not long after his pit stop.
The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver enjoyed his first Formula 1 Grand Prix around the Albert Park circuit but rued the time lost behind Alfa Romeo Racing’s Giovinazzi, which also cost both Lando Norris and Sergio Pérez their chances of a top ten finish as the likes of Lance Stroll, Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly all jumped them due to running a different strategy.
A small mistake exiting turn ten cost him one position to Pérez but Albon was able to drive cleanly until the chequered flag, but despite his strong pace he was only rewarded with a fourteenth-place finish, ahead only of Giovinazzi and the two Williams Racing drivers.
“Mixed feelings today!” said Albon. “It was my first experience of a race weekend and I didn’t really know what to expect.
“The race started off very well, I dropped the clutch and thought ‘great, that was okay!’ I made up two positions straight away and at that time we were in the mix, as I was already one position away from the points. That was pretty much as good as it got for me, though.
“We were in a battle with Giovinazzi, I think he was struggling with his tyres and everyone on that strategy lost out. All of the guys who stayed out on the harder compound behind overcut us. That compromised our race but I’m still happy with how my weekend went.
“I think we could have had points so that stings a little, but it was a good experience and I came away with a clean weekend, relatively speaking!”
