Alex Albon reflected on a difficult day for Williams Racing as both drivers finished outside of the points at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Thai-British driver lined up on the grid in a promising position as he began the race in eighth place, with the potential of the team being able to score points at the Circuit of The Americas.
After having some great battles out on track including with Sebastian Vettel, Albon fell short of the points as he came across the finish line in twelfth place.
Albon spoke after the race commending the team on a hard-fought effort but, felt that points finish may have been too much of a challenge this time round.
“We really fought today and gave it everything we had. I had a tricky start with a flat spot into Turn 1, nursing the fronts for the first 10 laps with huge vibrations, so we had to pit early but then we were offset. It was a shame, but I don’t think we had the pace for points today, but we were very close.”
“It was tricky out there and we tried our best and were aggressive on strategy but with the tyre degradation, I was hoping to try repeat something like in Spa and hold them off but the tyres took another step of degradation and once this happened, I tried to fight but just couldn’t hold them off anymore. Points might have been too much to ask for but we gave ourselves a good opportunity.”
Nicholas Latifi: “The car was better than I was expecting it to be today that’s not to say it was still tricky to drive.”
Nicholas Latifi also had a difficult day at the United States Grand Prix as he finished outside of the points once again.
The Canadian driver began the race in seventeenth as he benefited from grid place penalties for other drivers on the day after he qualified last on the grid less than twenty-four hours earlier.
He suffered a spin early on in the race which left him way off of the pace. He would later receive a five-second time penalty for forcing Mick Schumacher off the track to compile his misery further. With three retirements by the end of the race, Latifi crossed the line and finished in seventeenth.
Latifi reflected on another challenging race for himself and the team as he felt that his car was better than usual but struggled to show it out on track.
“The car was better than I was expecting it to be today that’s not to say it was still tricky to drive. I made a mistake at the beginning of the race with the spin getting caught out with the balance in the high-speed corners.”
“I didn’t manage to do any high fuel race running beforehand so I was exploring as I was going along. We got back into the race with the Safety Car but in the end, I was fighting cars that were much quicker behind me to hold them off which was detrimental to my race but beneficial to help the team.”
“The penalty I received was justified and I have no issues with it. It wasn’t intentional as I tried to brake as late as I could, but I committed to my braking point, locked up and couldn’t get the car to turn.”
