Albon says he was ‘holding on for dear life’ to score final point in Belgium

Alex Albon netted his and Williams’ third points finish of the season as he came home in 10th at Spa-Francorchamps – a result he was thrilled with after what he described as a “very difficult” race.

On Saturday Albon made it to Q3 for the first time this season and was rewarded with a promotion to P6 on the grid as rivals copped penalties for taking new gearbox and engine components. The Williams driver ended the race followed by a train of cars down to Zhou Guanyu in P14 and afterwards Albon explained how he managed to stay ahead to take the final point in the Belgian Grand Prix.

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“Some tracks we are good at tyre deg and we are fast, but with a track temp like this today, it just made it very difficult, and we got through it, we were on the final set of tyres, running P10, and it was just holding on for dear life.

“I was very happy to see that chequered flag at the end. It was a really good result and I feel like the whole weekend we’ve done a really good job; I’m really happy with how this weekend’s gone so it’s positive vibes going into Zandvoort.”

He added that Williams put everything in the right place to take the final point, despite not having the quickest car on track.

“We’ve been on the ball from FP1 and we haven’t really made any mistakes from the very beginning, so you know, we know we’re not the quickest car out there but I feel like when we do things right we can capitalise on everyone else and I think today and yesterday was a perfect example of that.”

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Meanwhile team mate Nicholas Latifi finished 18th and one lap down after a Lap 1 collision that also ended Valtteri Bottas’s race.

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“I think I just got a little bit wide through Turn 6 battling for position and it must have been the marbles, a little bit off line, from the other races – and it just caught me off guard how little grip there was,” explained the Canadian.

“It was then like driving on slicks in the rain, I understeered right off with no control of the car, hit the gravel, obviously spun right onto the track and damaged that set of tyres. Just unfortunate because we needed those tyres to make the two-stop strategy more optimal. So then yeah, the race is kind of compromised from there, to be honest.”