Alexander Albon ended the first half of his rookie Formula 1 season with a tenth-place finish in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, with the Thai driver feeling that was the best result he could have achieved.
The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver enjoyed two close battles on track against team-mate Daniil Kvyat, the first seeing the Russian pass Albon early on before the Thai driver got his revenge later on before going on to catch and pass Racing Point F1 Team driver Sergio Pérez for the final point.
Albon felt his race came alive when he made the switch to the hard compound of Pirelli tyre, having started on the medium compound, but even so he felt that it would have been difficult to achieve anything better than a tenth-place finish at the Hungaroring.
“I had quite a good race today,” said Albon. “My first stint was average, and I didn’t feel very comfortable with the Medium tyres, it felt like I had almost no grip at all, but once I went onto the Hard tyres the car came alive again.
“I had two nice fights with Dany, the first one was much closer than the second one! It was good fun and it was fair racing. I think P10 was the best we could achieve today, so we have to be pleased.”
Albon has finished inside the points in five of his opening twelve Grand Prix in 2019 and currently sits fifteenth in the Drivers’ Championship heading into the summer break, a break he will relax and analyse where he can improve for the second half of the year, beginning with the Belgian Grand Prix.
“Now I’ve got time to relax a bit, review the season so far and understand where I need to improve to be ready for the second half of the year,” revealed Albon.
