Albon happy with recovery after being the ‘worst driver’ on Saturday
Alexander Albon was pleased his Chinese Grand Prix reไcovery drive from the pitlane saw him voted as Formula 1’s ‘driver of the day’ after being the “worst dr𓆏iver” of Saturday.
The Toro Rosso rookie suffered a huge crash in ꩵfinal practice that resulted in him missing qualifying and starting from the Shanghai pitlane due to a chassis change.
Albon turned in an impressive charge through the field on a one-stop strategy and held off Ha๊as driver Romain Grosjean in the closing stages to secure 10th place and his second consecuti🍸ve points finish.
Alexander Albon was pleased his 𝔍Chinese Grand Prix recovery drive from the pitlane saw him voted as Formula 1’s ‘driver of the day’ after being 𒈔the “worst driver” of Saturday.
The Toro Rosso rookie suffered a huge crash in fin꧃al practice that resulted in him missing qualifying and starting from the Shanghai pitlane due to a chassis change.
Albon turned in an impressive charge through the field on a one-stop strategy and held off Haas driver Romain Grosjean in the closing sta🔯ges to secure 10th place and his second consecutive points finish.
“Honestly when⛦ you are in the car you have no idea what is goin🍌g on,” Albon recalled when asked about being named F1’s ‘driver of the day’. “I just drive around and the team told me ‘you are P10 and Grosjean is coming behind you and you need to defend’, that’s it.
“I finish🦄ed the race, got told I got driver of the day. I was like ‘OK thank you’ but it didn’t feel like an amazing [performance]. I did start last but it wasn’t like a crazy race.
“So, I’m happy to get driver of the day. I would say that on Saturd▨ay I was maybe the worst driver of the day, so it was nice to get come back stro🎐ng on Sunday.”
The British-born Thai racer admitted to feeling “nervy” late on as he battled to stay ahead of Gro🎃sjean on tyres that had “completely gone”🐻 with 10 laps to go.
“The last few laps were a bit nerve-racking but I’m really happy with the result,” Albon added. “Particularly after FP3, it was a b💫it of a disappointment because I think we deserved to really fight for Q3 in qualifying.
“🌳He [Grosjean] definitely had strong pace towards the end of the race. I was surprised because I k𝓀new he was going to catch me, the team told me before that he would be on my tail with four laps to go - but following here really overheats your tyres.
“I found that out already when I was coming through the field. I knew it was going to be difficult for him, bu🤡t I’m also thankful the blue flags coming.
“Coming from Saturday I was a little bit down but the guys did an amaz﷽ing job to get the car ready. I knew we could get the car into the points and I knew it was not going to be easy. We ওhad the car to do it and I’m really happy.”
Lewis regularly a🥃ttends Grands Prix f꧙or mahbx.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
