Alex Albon thrilled with fightback to score points at Silverstone while Logan Sargeant hails ‘good improvement’

Alex Albon was thrilled to score points at the British Grand Prix, having bounced back from a difficult start to end the race in P9 on an overall strong weekend for the Williams team, with Logan Sargeant only just missing out on a top-10 finish.

It had been a good qualifying session for Albon on Saturday, in which the Thai driver progressed to Q3 where he secured ninth place on the grid. He slipped backwards early in proceedings on Sunday, however, following contact with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.

Albon then capitalised on some well-timed pit stops during the wet-dry event to fight his way back and cross the line in P9, taking two valuable points for the team in the process.

“It was good fun out there,” a smiling Albon reflected after the Grand Prix. “It was a race where we started off quite poorly – I had a decent start, but Fernando just had an even better one next to me.

“I don’t really remember what happened in Turn 3 but we made contact, [in] Turn 4 made more contact. [I] jumped to P12, I think it was, and then had to fight back.

‘I had a lot of fun out there’ – Albon beaming after points finish in Williams’ home race

“The rain was coming, so we always knew there was a chance to get back into the race and, once it fell and all the cars kind of started coming off the circuit and whatnot, you kind of lick your lips a little bit!

“It was inters, the final stint had really good pace, good strategy on the mediums, and [I] had a lot of fun out there. The car was really good at the end there, one of the best it’s felt in a long, long time. So, yeah, it was good fun.”

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Asked if the result was particularly important given the increasingly tight midfield battle – as well as being quizzed on whether the weekend had felt like an all-round good performance for himself and Williams – Albon responded: “Yeah, I knew straight away.

“I think on the inters we could have pitted one lap earlier, but it was always that kind of awkward threshold.

“We timed the second one perfectly, and also tyre choice – I think a lot of guys went on the softs as we went on the mediums, and it just meant I could push really hard for the 13, 14 laps left in the race. [I also] got Yuki [Tsunoda] under pressure a little bit, had a good fight with him.”

Sargeant pleased with his race despite finishing ‘one stop shy’ of points

Saturday had also looked promising for team mate Sargeant, who enjoyed his best qualifying performance of the season by lining up in P12. While he just missed out on points come Sunday after finishing in 11th place, the American spoke positively about his performance afterwards.

“It was a good race, to be honest,” commented Sargeant. “I think I executed everything really well. It was a bit of a shame, we were too close on that first inters stop and we had to stack. [We] lost quite a bit of time there, and didn’t quite have the pace on the inter tyre, just was struggling a lot with degradation.

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“Probably boxed a lap late to get back on the slicks but, yeah, easy in hindsight. I think we did a good job all things considered, kept it together in tricky conditions and gave ourselves a chance.”

Pushed on whether the weekend had felt like one of his strongest of the year, Sargeant answered: “Yeah, 100%. I was really quick today on the slick tyre. I’m happy with what we’ve done, I’m happy with the direction we went with the car – I think it was a good improvement.

“But yeah, still one spot shy which is annoying, but maybe someone will get chucked out like last time!”