Alexander Albon agreed it was painful what he did in F1 Monaco GP, as he reacts to George Russell’s move, while Carlos Sainz laments race manipulation scene.
The Williams pair was initially the victim of the strategy at the hands of Visa Cash App RB in F1 Monaco GP, where Liam Lawson backed the field to safeguard Isack Hadjar. This meant, the Grove-based outfit had no choice but request Sainz to drop behind to allow Albon remain in the points.
The ones to loose out in this were Mercedes and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda. First in the line was George Russell. Initially, he got stuck behind Sainz and once Albon was in the clear. Williams decided to switch around and put Thai in the job for the Spaniard to complete his two stops.
By the time Albon came around, it irked Russell and he cut the chicane to get ahead. He defied the call from his team and the FIA stewards handed him a harsher drive-through penalty which sealed his fate. The Thai wasn’t angry on the Brit as he reckoned he would have done the same.
For Albon, he was more on the painful situation he was put in. “Painful – not how I want to go racing and I don’t think enjoyable for anyone watching as well,” he said to media. “We knew it was a possibility, we knew this strategy could happen. I think we were talking about it on Thursday. We didn’t want it to happen and I think on our side, it wasn’t how we were going to go racing.
“Once RB started it, it put us in a position where we had to do it as well. It bunched the field up so tightly, the only way to get out of that situation was to basically repeat what they did. Not pretty and frustrating but in the end it’s a team sport and we maximised three points for the team. You give us one stop, we were doing it on a one stop, creating this style of racing.
“We would do it on a two stop, we would do it on a three stop, we would do it on a four stop. You give us whatever. I think it was worth a try. Even if it was as bad as it was, it was a talking point. It became more of a peloton than a race. Realistically, if you really want to change it, I can only see changing some parts of the track, creating a proper overtaking opportunity and or making the cars smaller, which obviously is going to happen next year.
“It’s just too easy to defend around here. You need about a four second, five second margin to overtake here and that doesn’t happen,” summed up Albon, giving some inputs on what can be done. TAs noted above, the Thai wasn’t too displeased with Russell. He recalled the cheeky moves the Brit pulls out in real life even. The two had dinner in the night, which was paid by the Thai.
“Yeah, because if that doesn’t happen [harsher penalty to Russell], you’re going to see chaos,” continued Albon. “It was good that they made it harsh because it would open huge loopholes in the future if we started not to punish it, so I think it was correct. I was like, George was cheeky! When you’re in the car with him on the road, he does some cheeky moves.
“He did it on the racetrack as well. I mean I knew exactly what he was doing. It was a bit too obvious to get by me. I mean I applaud the effort. He had to do something to get points and he did make us worry for a couple of laps before the drive through came through. I don’t blame him. I had the same feedback to Liam. It’s not pretty, you’re obviously making a gap. I tried not to do it in the high-speed corners because that’s dangerous.
“But at the same time, doing it in the low-speed can also be a bit touch and go. Like I said, I don’t like doing this. I don’t want to be racing like that. Carlos wouldn’t, I’m sure he agrees. I’m sure Liam as well. It’s just what it’s come to. We need to figure out how to stop that kind of racing,” summed up Albon after finishing ninth. Teammate Sainz was 10th and was more concerned about the manipulation.
He didn’t wish to do it but then had to be party to it after the decision taken by Visa Cash App RB ahead. The Spaniard did not enjoy it at all. “[We were] driving four seconds off the pace at some stages of the race,” started Sainz. “Ultimately, we were victims, first from Lawson that managed to lose 40 seconds to Isack, [it allowed] two pit stops that Isack would do in front of us to finish, to do his two pit stops and finish P5.
“As we were victims of that situation, we had to, in the end, do the same thing as Lawson did both times with Alex and myself to make sure we bought the two cars to the points, something I definitely didn’t enjoy doing, something definitely the sport should look into. Ultimately, yeah, you’re driving two or three seconds off the pace that the car can do.
“You are ultimately manipulating the race and manipulating the outcome a bit. So we should find a way that this cannot be done in the future because of the feeling then every year, people are going to do it more and more, and it’s becoming more of a trend the last few years. So in that sense, the two-stop, if anything, helped to maybe spice up around the pit windows, to have two pit stops, but it made us have to do the slow driving twice, which is not a very good look for the sport.
“We know it is impossible to overtake. Two pit stops is two moments where the teams and pit stop mechanics can have a mistake and the outcome of the race changed, but I fear as we move forward into years, teams are to become more comfortable in as they did today. And it is going to become too much for the Top 10 cars…they would want to bank the points, the second driver will have to do this but the lead driver can redo it for you like Alex did.
“The two stops I agree, it didn’t change too much apart from having two moments of tension, like before you only had one moment of tension for the leaders, fair, then this could stay. For me, the bigger problem is the race manipulation. I think this is the kind of tactics we need to see how we can improve,” summed up Sainz, who like Albon backed Russell’s move.
He even joked about getting the joker lap rule for Monaco, but put it down mostly as a joke. During the grand prix, he had a lot of time to think what they can do, but didn’t come off with a proper solution. “I completely understand why he did it, because I nearly did it on Alex and Lawson in the first part of the race,” continued Sainz.
“I think ultimately, the sport should have look at the way we are manipulating the outcome of the race with our pace. It shouldn’t be allowed when it is as obvious as it was. Around Monaco, it is too easy to do than other tracks with DRS and straights you cannot do. It was easy to do for everyone in Monaco, drivers as talented as we are, we can back-off two-three seconds and push when you have the tyres to don’t get overtaken.
“I hope maybe some drivers will have a good think about what they did and come up with a solution and if not, then I expect the sport together with the FIA to maybe come up with some ideas to see what we can do. Today, I had time in the car to think about it, because I was driving so slow, behind and in front of people that I was like, ‘What could we do for this not to be allowed?’ And I was thinking in the car, and I was like, maybe having a joker lap, where you just jump the chicane like George did, and get the someone out of the way and waste your joker.
“If you cannot pass, at least take a shortcut without a penalty if someone is obviously being very rude to you. The joker, that was just a joke, I don’t think that’s the solution. But as gimmicks, for me, we need to look at the spirit of the sport more, and the spirit of the sport, I don’t think should be to manipulate a race outcome.
“In the past, there were huge penalties for manipulating a race, I remember. Ultimately, we are not crashing, but we are driving so slow that we are manipulating a race. So we need to find… Obviously, it’s allowed, so perfect. But ultimately, you need to maybe find a solution,” summed up Sainz.
Here’s George Russell making a move: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-monaco-grand-prix-russell-deliberately-takes-a-penalty-after-passing-albon-off-track.1833111433456256089
Here’s George Russell on his move, Toto Wolff on James Vowles’ text
Here’s how F1 Monaco GP panned out
