Alexander Albon has talked of his happiness regarding his Hungarian Grand Prix result, as the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver had to work his way up the grid to get his RB16 car into fifth place.
Albon started down in thirteenth place as he had a tricky qualifying and was sent out in traffic. However, Albon recovered well and quickly during the race as he fought his way through the grid to take fifth place, after making his way through the midfield pack.
But he could not catch Lance Stroll in the BWT Racing Point Formula One Team car, as they seemed to have better pace than Red Bull during the weekend.
Albon talked about the Grand Prix and how it went for him as he talked happily about his performance in the race. He started off by reflecting on how the team expected it to be a tough race, as Albon started in thirteenth and the Hungaroring Circuit is often hard to find opportunities to overtake.
“It was a good race and I had a lot of fun with my elbows out,” said Albon. “If you had told me we’d be P5 after yesterday I would have jumped at it.
“Today was never going to be easy starting from P13 but we had a good start and we made our way through the field. It’s not easy to overtake at this circuit so we had to do some big moves to get past people.
“Every move you do is always on the limit here but it worked out for us and I enjoy the battles as it’s nice to put on a show.“
Albon spoke of the battles which he had to take part in during the race, as he highlighted that had a hard battle with the two Scuderia Ferrari cars who Albon ended up overtaking and finishing ahead of. He stated how the car felt as he went over the pace of the car and suggested improvements between qualifying and the race for himself.
“When we fight we tend to come out on top and the car is good on the brakes so it’s nice to make these moves,” he said. “We lost quite a lot of time in traffic today behind the Ferraris otherwise I think we would have been closer but the car was really good and when we were in clean air we were fast and very competitive.”
Albon conveyed how pleased he was with his racing after qualifying, and he went on to give a slight nudge of praise to the team. He followed by mentioning race pace which the team had, despite them expecting to struggle because of the pace of the like of Racing Point, who had Sergio Pérez and Stroll qualify in third and fourth place on the grid.
The team had seemed off the pace, as their car did not look balanced but Albon pointed out the gains they made. But still implied the team had some improving to do.
“I’m happy with the result and it’s good points for the Team after such a tricky day yesterday so I think we have to be thankful.
“Today is a bit of a surprise as to why our race pace is so much better than our quali pace, so we need to understand that, but it’s positive and means some things on the car are working.”
