Alexander Albon has opened up on his F1 British GP crash and time at hospital, as he looks forward to the weekend in Austria.
While the eyes were on Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in F1 British GP after his horror crash, Williams’ Albon also had a big one after he was tapped on the back by Sebastian Vettel. He smashed into the pit wall and then collided with Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon.
The multiple bumps against the wall and other cars left a big impact on his body as he was taken to the medical center and then to the Coventry hospital for precautionary checks. Fortunately, everything was fine one his side apart from bruises.
With days gone, Albon was back on work in Williams’s simulator to prepare for Austria and gauge the numbers from the updates he had during the Silverstone weekend. While there, he sat down to open up about the scary incident from his side.
“I’m pleased to say that after everything that happened at Silverstone, I’m feeling fine,” said Albon. “I’ve had a pretty relaxing few days and have used that time to recover; I’m in the simulator today (Wednesday) and just looking to get my eye in for Austria. Obviously, Silverstone didn’t go quite as planned. It all happened so quickly.
“I only really saw what actually happened with the crash when I watched the replays back.
But, it was just one of those things. The good thing is that it looks like our aero package is salvageable. The guys are now obviously working really hard to get that fixed and ready for Austria. I’m feeling positive.
“It’s a shame we had that incident as I think we could have scored some points at Silverstone. But, we’ll now focus on Austria and see if we can do the business there. It was just one of those things. Crashes happen, and, luckily, everyone in the crash was OK. On my side, I feel pretty much back to normal.
“I’m just taking it a little bit easier with Patrick, my performance coach, and making sure I’m back to top fitness for Friday,” summed up Albon, who then expanded on his time at the hospital where he had his girlfriend at his side as they played board games while watching the grand prix on his phone.
“Obviously, it can sound quite dramatic when people go to hospital,” continued Albon. “But, to reassure everyone, I just went for precautionary checks. It’s standard procedure, really. They’ve got the best people working in Formula One, so I was airlifted to the hospital as a precaution. I was feeling a little bit uncomfortable and the crash felt bigger than it actually was.
“On my body, it felt like a bigger crash than I expected. Of course, it wasn’t ideal, but it ended up being just a few bumps and bruises. There was nothing major at all, so it was all good in the end. No hard feelings. And as I say, it was just one of those things. Just for a bit more context, I was playing Sudoku in the hospital bed with Lily, my girlfriend, and I was also watching the race on my phone.
“I was keeping an eye on how Nicky was doing and seeing if he could get some points. It was still a good race for us as a team and I was still supporting him on the ‘sidelines’,” summed up Albon. Moving on to Austria, the Thai is confident of a good result where the team will continue to work on the new package they introduced.
It is unclear after the accident if Nicholas Latifi will get the updates or not. “We’re looking ahead to Austria now,” said Albon. “Having been a Red Bull driver, it’s a place I know well. On paper, I think it’s a track that Williams have done pretty well at in the past. George [Russell] had some very good qualifying sessions there last year, and again, on paper, I think it will suit our car a bit more than other circuits.
“The Red Bull Ring is a great place to test the upgrade package out. It’s got a good mix of low speed and high speed corners, which makes our set-up important, especially because there’s so few corners to get right You’re looking for hundredths around this track, more than tenths, so, if we can be in the ballpark for the weekend, I think we’ll be in for a good race. I’m excited to be racing there again and we’ve also got a tyre test the week after the Grand Prix which will be good for us – again, more mileage and more running on the aero package,” concluded Albon.
Here’s the immediate response after the grand prix