Report: A superb P8 at a slippery Silverstone
Stop-start rain meant Alex had tricky conditions to master in the 2025 British GP
Published
06 JUL 2025
Est. reading time
3 min
Alex Albon equalled his best British GP finish with a P8 result after a challenging 52 laps in changeable conditions.
The track was damp on the formation lap, but the weather looked to be improving, and six cars opted to swap tyres ahead of lights out.
Alex was not one of them, and he jumped to P9 on the opening lap after passing Yuki Tsunoda in a brave move around the outside of Abbey.
An incident behind triggered a Virtual Safety Car, and it began a heavily interrupted first half of the race.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who ran in P8, chose to pit for slicks in the VSC period, allowing Alex to grab another early position.
The race resumed, but only briefly, with Gabriel Bortoleto crashing and retiring to trigger another VSC period with the threat of rain looming.
With a drying track, Alex burned through his Inters and lost a position to Stroll, who had swapped for slick rubber, but a change in weather meant that the lost place was only temporary.
Alex stayed out while most frontrunners pitted, and ran in P2 for a short while in the showers, but his Intermediate Pirellis did not have the grip left to hold on.
Stopping for fresh tyres dropped Albono to P12 as the strategies converged, and he held this position behind teammate Carlos Sainz as the Safety Car appeared to neutralise the race due to the heavy rain.
Isack Hadjar became the next retirement when green flag racing resumed, and a second SC period had Alex in P11 after Esteban Ocon pitted from the top-10 places.
The final restart saw Alex fighting with his old Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen, who spun exiting Stowe and emerged ahead of Albono's FW47.
Wheel-to-wheel battling put the Williams driver ahead for half a lap before Verstappen regained P10 and set about chasing Sainz.
Charles Leclerc was the next rival to concentrate on, and the Monegasque sent a late move on the inside of The Loop, dropping Alex to P12 as the track dried.
Early stops ahead advanced Albono into the top 10 again, and he became one of the last to stop to switch to Mediums, emerging back on track next to Sainz, whose warm tyres had him ahead.
Leclerc and Sainz's overtakes did not last, though, and the two tangled to gift Alex free positions, but it was only P9 for Albono as Fernando Alonso overtook his Williams.
Undeterred, Alex closed the gap over the remaining seven laps and caught the two-time champion on the final lap and passed him around the outside at Copse for a P8 finish.
"Well done Alex," said James Vowles over the radio as he crossed the line.
"Tricky conditions. I think there were moments where we just weren't quick enough and then as it dried up it got into those grip conditions and you were flying at the end."
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"I’m happy with our race today," Alex shared post-race.
"We got the balance right between risky and safe, and bounced back from a tricky day yesterday.
"Towards the end of the race, we had really good pace, good rhythm, and managed to get Alonso on the last lap. I loved the conditions, where the racing line is so small and there’s no room for mistakes.
"Looking to the next race, we collected a lot of useful data this weekend, which will help us get on top of the issues before Spa."
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