Report: Fighting Through the Field at Monza

A lengthy hard tyre stint saw Alex run as high as P13 before late pit stop.

Published

06 SEP 2026

Est. reading time

3 min

Alex Albon finished P17 at the Italian Grand Prix, with a long stint on the hard tyres seeing him run as high as P13 before a late switch to softs.

Starting from P18 on the Medium tyres, Alex gained two places on the opening lap by overtaking Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas, before Liam Lawson passed him to drop him back to P19.

The race was red flagged on Lap 3 after Charles Leclerc crashed at the Parabolica. Alex returned to the pit lane during the stoppage, switching to the hard tyres ahead of the restart.

Two further formation laps were required after Yuki Tsunoda went to the wrong grid box, with the race finally getting back underway on Lap 6.

There was plenty of position swapping in the opening laps, with Alex settling into P18 before battling Sergio Perez for P17 on Lap 10. Alex held the position and moved up to P16 three laps later after Lawson pitted.

Alex continued to show strong pace on the Hards, setting a 1:26.975 on Lap 24. A Virtual Safety Car on Lap 28 created an opportunity for several cars to pit, while Alex stayed out and gained further positions to run as high as P13.

His long hard tyre stint continued to deliver competitive pace, with Alex improving to a 1:26.742, despite having 31-lap-old tyres.

As the race entered its final stages, Nico Hulkenberg closed in and eventually passed Alex for P13 on Lap 43. Alex swapped positions with Carlos Sainz on Lap 46 before making his second and final stop for soft tyres at the end of Lap 47, rejoining in P17.

With concerns over the condition of the hard tyres, James Vowles explained the decision over the radio, telling Alex: “We’ll talk you through the decisions… but your safety is more important to me.”

Alex continued to push through the final laps, setting his fastest lap of the race with a 1:25.341 on the final lap.

He ultimately crossed the line in P17, bringing his Italian Grand Prix to a close.

"We tried to go long and make it on one set of hard tyres after the red flag, but inevitably had some degradation towards the end of the race. It was worth the gamble to try.”

“Race pace was the best we’ve had in awhile, due to taking a new PU this weekend, but it also shows what we have underneath us and what we have to do to get to where we want to be.”

“We need to review the strategy from today and see what we could’ve done differently - we had a decent race, but there are always things to tidy up.”

“Madrid will be a completely different track, and it won’t be easy, but we’re looking forward to the challenge.”