Albon ruing missed podium at Imola

Alex Albon believes he had a chance to score a podium in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix before his incident with Charles Leclerc, leaving him slightly disappointed to finish fifth.

Williams backed up an extremely strong race in Miami – where Albon was also fifth and teammate Carlos Sainz ninth – with more double-points in Imola. Albon was on new tires and fighting Leclerc after the final safety car with Piastri just a few seconds ahead in third, but after going wheel-to-wheel with Leclerc and being pushed wide at Tamburello, Lewis Hamilton jumped ahead of him and limited Albon to fifth place.

“Weird isn't it?!” Albon said. “In a pure race we were fighting for P3, P4, but that's no safety cars, that's just a pure situation. Obviously maybe a little bit lucky with the VSC, admittedly, but at the same time got unlucky again on the last safety car. So back to back P5s and coming away a bit disappointed which is a bit strange to say.

“I think maybe could have raced Charles a bit differently, could have done a bit better there, obviously lost out to Lewis and then maybe could have been a bit more patient with my overtake to Charles. I was honestly kind of licking my lips, I thought I could even get Oscar up in front as well, such was the pace and the new tires we had on the car, so very happy.”

The result continues Albon's strong start to the year, with his total of 40 points after seven rounds only bettered by a return of 48 points across the same period for Red Bull at the beginning of the COVID-hit 2020 season.

Having originally dismissed the Miami result as a one-off scenario, Albon is now starting to question whether Williams can be a more regular threat at the front of the field.

“It's a weird one. Honestly I keep telling myself it won't happen again, it's this race, and then we go to the next race and we're quick again and it's a bit like, is it circumstantial, is it not?

“I would honestly say Miami and here we've been quick, in my opinion almost unexpectedly quick this weekend. I expected Miami to be good but not here and it kind of opens the window for what else? Maybe next week we're going to be good. I actually think Monaco won't be too bad, I think Barcelona we're going to struggle but let's keep going, enjoying this while it lasts.”