Report: Alex records third P5 finish of 2025 in Imola

Albono records his first points in Imola and matches his best-ever finish in a Williams

Published

18 MAY 2025

Est. reading time

3 min

Alex leaves the 2025 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix with 10 more points in the bag after a stellar Sunday drive at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Starting from P7, our No. 23 got away cleanly and enjoyed a tidy opening lap, keeping tabs on his Atlassian Williams Racing teammate, Carlos Sainz.

A DRS train quickly formed, stretching all the way up to the final spot on the podium, before the leading drivers began to pit around lap 11. Alex extended his opening stint on the medium tyres, rising as high as P3.

When Lando Norris stopped on lap 28, Alex moved up to P2 – just as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed following Esteban Ocon’s retirement. Taking advantage of the timing, he dived into the pits for a cheap stop and rejoined on fresh hard tyres in P4.

Just before the track went green again, Alex gained another position as Oscar Piastri made a second stop, rejoining 12 seconds behind the Thai racer. The McLaren closed the gap and made the move stick on lap 40, with Alex settling into P4 as Lewis Hamilton loomed behind on ageing medium tyres.

Lap 46 brought heartbreak for home favourite Kimi Antonelli, who was forced to stop on track. This time, the full Safety Car was deployed. After staying out for a lap, Alex used the compressed field to make another cheap stop for a fresh set of hard tyres.

He rejoined in P5, just behind Charles Leclerc, who was on tyres 18 laps older. Unsurprisingly, Albono was all over the Ferrari’s gearbox, hassling the Monegasque for several laps before lining up a move at Tamburello on lap 60.

Forced wide through the gravel trap, Alex lost a position to Hamilton in the process. But on the final tour, with Leclerc under investigation, Alex swept back past to seal a hard-earned P5 after an incredible drive.

"I’m very happy," Alex shared after the race. "P4 was possible today if the Safety Car didn’t come out at the end or if you take away the Charles incident, but I’m not going to say I’m disappointed with P5!

"When I look at the battle with Charles, I would probably have done the same; it wasn’t that crazy, he was just trying to hold his position, but then I lost out to Lewis. Maybe I could have been a bit more patient with my overtake of Charles, but at that point in the race I was feeling so good that I was thinking: ‘Oscar is up ahead on worn tyres, maybe I could go after him!’

"I’m still very happy with the race; on pure pace we were running P4, P5, so we were able to extend the first stint and that set us up for the whole race. The consistent pace we’re showing opens up the window for what else we can do, so let’s keep going and enjoying it."