Albon points the finger at Haas after Q2 exit: « They were dirty, dirty »
Eliminated by just three hundredths of a second in Q2, Alexander Albon believes that the behavior of a Haas car denied him a place in Q3. Frustrated, the Williams driver also looks back on a troubled weekend full of pitfalls.
Alexander Albon left qualifying with a bitter taste. The Williams driver missed Q3 by only 0.03 seconds, and he attributes the cause to Oliver Bearman’s Haas, which he caught up with in the final sector of his last fast lap.
On the radio, his anger was clear: « They were dirty, dirty, Haas. They knew what they were doing. Deliberately slow in sector 3. »
He also cited Lewis Hamilton as another source of annoyance earlier in the lap, adding: « Haas, sorry, not good. And also Lewis at turn 7. »
No blockage, but dirty air too present
After qualifying, Albon specified that Bearman did not intentionally block or force him to slow down. However, he suffered from the turbulence generated by the Haas: « Honestly, Ollie was not in the way, I didn’t have to brake, and I wasn’t disturbed by the car itself. We take on so much dirty air, and the dirty air was a bit too present in sector 3.
Albon’s disappointment is also explained by a very limited preparation throughout the weekend. He hardly drove before the qualifying sessions, due to the presence of reserve driver Victor Martins in FP1 and mechanical problems in FP3.
Despite everything, the Thai prefers to focus on the positive. Williams, traditionally struggling on this circuit, showed a more competitive performance than expected.
« It’s a shame to miss Q3, but at the same time I’m happy: it’s the first time I’ve made it to Q2 here with Williams, and I was almost in Q3. » And to add: « It shows everyone that we’re headed in the right direction. But there is still work to be done. »
