Alexander Albon says Williams ultimately got lucky by relying on Yuki Tsunoda at the Abu Dhabi F1 GP.
At the F1 GP in Abu Dhabi, Williams had already trailed AlphaTauri in qualifying and, despite having a seven-point lead, it was a constant challenge for the Grove-based team. It was a threat. Tsunoda looked strong all weekend and had chances to score some good goals.
He was leading the race at one point, but tensions mounted as Albon and even Logan Sargent struggled and scoring opportunities were limited. The Thai racer commented that Tsunoda was helpless in the situation as he was very high up on the track and had a high pace.
However, both Albon and Williams breathed a sigh of relief when Tsunoda’s only stop did not work and other faster cars managed to overtake him. However, the Thai racer was not happy with the effect the wind had on his car at the start, and the high speed at the end was not an issue.
“The wheels spun right away, then more wheels spun and we had a big problem at the start of the stint,” Albon said. A stronger wind direction on race day also exposed weaknesses in Williams’ FW45 package, and Albon also had a negative impact on his race prospects.
“The wind was quite strong for the first 20 laps of the race, so it’s amazing how much stress it puts on our car.” But then the wind died down and we changed the tires and then the car came back to life and it was very strong, especially in the last stint.
“However, these are just the sensibilities of our car. I think we might have been able to fight for points if it wasn’t for that first stint. Anyway, it was a tough race where we had to rely on Yuuki-san. .Unfortunately Yuki was too fast and we couldn’t join his race as he was further up.But fortunately for us some of the faster cars I overtook him and I’m happy to consolidate seventh place,” concluded Albon.
Here’s Yuki Tsunoda on missing out
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