Albon rues missed chances, but happy to score on home soil

F1 Grand Prix, GP Great Britain, Silverstone Circuit

Williams driver Alexander Albon had a torrid start to his home race at Silverstone, picking up a front wing damage on the opening lap, but he managed to add a point to his tally.

Although Williams failed to display a good performance at Silverstone, the challenging, wet-dry conditions played into the hands of Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant.

The Thai-British driver performed a great overtaking move on RB rival Yuki Tsunoda to snatch two points away in a season where the fight for the last point-scoring places is brutally closely-matched.

His team-mate Logan Sargeant failed to score any points, and is still one of three drivers who are yet to score in 2024. However, the American delivered an encouraging performance in challenging conditions.

Speaking of Williams’ showing at Silverstone, Sporting Director Sven Smeets noted: “The car worked well today in these mixed and rather cold conditions. Alex picked up some damage in the first corners of the race through contact but avoided a big collision with great skill.

“Logan had a good start, and both cars had good pace in that first part of the race. When the first patch of rain came both drivers did an excellent job staying out on slicks as it was difficult to call when to go onto the Intermediates.

“In hindsight, we maybe should’ve boxed a lap earlier as the rain intensified quickly. When the rain had passed, we fitted slicks on both cars at the right time and Logan and Alex had great pace on a quickly drying track.

“Logan managed to overtake [Kevin] Magnussen for P11, and Alex made a great move on [Yuki] Tsunoda for P9 scoring two valuable points for the team. Overall, it’s been a good weekend for the team after two difficult weekends.”

Having picked up a minor damage to the front wing of his car on the opening lap, Alex Albon said that he was not really impacted from the first-lap clash.

"We made contact in Turn 3 and more in Turn 4, also losing a chunk of the front wing, so I was a bit worried at the beginning. After that, everything mostly fell into place, and I was happy.

"I knew the rain would come and there would be a second chance, so I just had to stay patient and wait for the opportunities to arise. We made the right calls for the most part, boxing at the right time for the right tyres.

"We did lose some time on the pit stops and I think without the damage, we could’ve scored more points, but I’m still happy. It’s a weekend where we really needed to deliver for the team, so to do it at our home Grand Prix always makes it more special."

His team-mate Logan Sargeant finished just outside the points, taking the chequered flag in P11. The American praised the team for the strategy calls, but rued a double-stack

"It was a good day in general. From FP2 where we struggled in high fuel, we put the car in a much better place, and it showed. We had good pace particularly on the slick tyre. I struggled a little on the drying track with the Inters by degrading the tyres a little bit too much.

"We executed everything relatively well and kept it together in tricky conditions. We got quite unfortunate with the stacked stop for the Inters with Alex having a slow stop ahead which cost us time.

"Of course, in hindsight there were maybe a couple of decisions we could’ve done a lap or two earlier which ultimately could’ve been the difference between a point or not. Overall, I’m happy with the way I drove this weekend," concluded Sargeant.