Alexander Albon has expressed his disappointment at coming away from the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix empty handed following a late-race scrap with Romain Grosjean.
Points seemed certain for the impressive Albon until a late-race pit-stop behind the safety car saw him sit behind his stationary team-mate while the Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda team scrambled to find tyres.
Albon emerged from the botched pit-stop behind Grosjean and despite the aid of DRS in the closing laps, the rookie was unable to improve on eleventh at the checkered flag.
“It was disappointing to be so close to points and come away with nothing, but it was good fun racing with Romain,” said Albon. “I had to back out of it because I thought I might have had an incident when we both decided to go right at the same time.
“I had to hit the brakes and lost the momentum into Turn 1, I think if it wasn’t for that I would have got passed.
“The race was lost for us in the pit stop, so we need to review what happened because we should have had two cars in the top 10. It’s a frustrating one, but I’m happy with my performance and I’m looking forward to fighting for points again in Monaco.”
Albon’s team-mate Daniil Kvyat was able to fight his way by Grosjean to secure ninth in the race and draw level with Albon in the drivers’ standing. Toro Rosso sit ninth in the constructors’ standings on six points.
