Alexander Albon accepted blame for the incident with Franco Colapinto in F1 Azerbaijan GP, as the pair eventually lost out on the grand picture.
While his teammate secured a podium, Williams’ Albon finished out the points in F1 Azerbaijan GP after things got bad to worse for him from qualifying to race. He was forced on a different strategy after lock-up early on, which resulted in two early stops. The second one eventually killed his chances.
In a bid to clear Alpine’s Colapinto, the Thai dived on the inside at Turn 5 and clipped the rear of the Argentine to spin him around into the tyre barrier. He was handed 10s time penalty for causing a collision, even though Colapinto managed to continue on albeit at the back.
It was misjudgement on the part of Albon, who accepted his mistake. He actually got himself near to points, but the penalty dropped him down the order. “I think we had an issue with our blankets, so when I started my formation lap, they were like almost it hasn’t been turned on and I flat-spotted immediately, so I had to pick it up later,” he said to media.
“I think we must have been one of the only cars that could just about get away with overtaking other cars in DRS trains. We had the pace to do it. I think we obviously were quick on track. Rightfully so, a lot of the midfield cars reacted to me pitting, and would try to cover me immediately out of the pit lane. It then got a bit scrappy with Franco – my fault.
“But when we did have clean air, which was maybe for 10 laps of the race, we were quick. We just didn’t really ever get there. Not much to say really. Obviously, the damage was done in qualifying,” summed up Albon, who was in good spirits still seeing Sainz and Williams score a crucial podium, especially in their bid to retain fifth in the championship.
They even crossed the 100 points barrier, even though the Thai was frustrated not to score in Baku. “Firstly, I’m really happy for Carlos,” continued Albon. “I think he drove a very solid weekend from qualifying to the race. He was mistake-free, which, with this weather and the conditions, was not easy. I think the car was quick as well.
“I’m frustrated at myself because I haven’t scored points in a weekend when it was maybe the easiest of them to score points, but it happens. At the same time, it’s great for the constructors’ championship with the points Carlos got, and for himself as well. I think he’s always been extremely quick, but he’s been unfortunate, so good to get it. It’s good to shake off the bad luck, so good for him,” summed up Albon.
For Colapinto, he felt the move from Albon was a bit unnecessary. Even though chance of points was slim, the Argentine was hoping for a better result, especially against teammate Pierre Gasly.
“Yeah, it is not the corner to overtake, it is also a chicane, you have to go outside and he send it down the inside and hit the rear-left very hard,” said Colapinto to media. “There was bit of damage after that, so it just became a long race after that. It cost me 12 seconds that I lost in the wall, less than all the damage I had, so a lot for sure. I just had a pretty big lack of pace.
“I did my best. I made a good start and re-start. I gained a few positions when I could, it was just very tricky out there with no pace in the car. I lost 12 worth seconds in the wall, I flat-spotted the tyres, I had lots of understeer in the last third of the race. It did not helped. It was a long afternoon, of course I did the best I could.
“We have to try a lot to be out there, it is not very easy for us with pretty tough car and chassis. It’s not really easy to drive. Then we have to go more to the limit, take more risks than the others. It’s tricky for us at the moment. There will be some good tracks for us like America, Mexico, but at the moment it is very difficult,” summed up Colapinto, who feels he has improved in the last couple of rounds.
He complained of confidence factor in the initial races with Alpine, but off-late he has felt far more comfortable in the car, which can be ascertained in his driving. “It was a good weekend in terms of my personal performance. I’m happy with that,” noted Colapinto.
“Since Budapest, I am [at] the limit of the car I found on my side and that’s what I am happy with. Of course then the car is not quick that the moment and the package is not what we want to be, so we need to find more pace and we are working hard with the team to find more performance.”
Here’s Carlos Sainz on podium finish
