Alex Bags P9 in Maiden Miami Grand Prix
Thai Driver Alex Albon put in another storming race to secure a P9 finish in the inaugral Miami Grand Prix.
After a promising Friday at the new Miami Circuit, tyre warming up issues hampered Alex in Qualifying - as he lined up in P18 for Sunday's Miami Grand Prix.
It was a clean getaway for Alex, immediately jumped two positions to P16 in the early running.
Not long after, Alex gained once more when Zhou Guanyu found himself nursing an issue that ultimately forced the Chinese driver to retire on Lap 7.
The next time around, Alex was fully engaged in a battle with his good friend, George Russell as they kept trading places in successive DRS zones before the Mercedes driver was able to pull away whilst Alex nursed his tyres.
After being told by his engineer, James Urwin, that he was on Plan B, Alex boxed, switching his medium tyres for the hard compound.
With fresh rubber, Alex set about passing Yuki Tsunoda before getting by Nicky, who remained on his Plan A strategy.
On Lap 41, the race was thrown wide open as a collision between Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly brought out the Virtual Safety Car which was upgraded to full Safety Car conditions just one lap later.
Alex found himself in P11 at the restart on Lap 47, with a shot at the points paying positions.
On Lap 54, Mick Schumacher collided with Sebastien Vettel - allowing Alex through and into P10 with less than a handful of laps remaining, with the added incentive of Fernando Alonso carrying a five-second penalty.
Albono kept it on the road and pushed for P9, ultimately finishing just two tenths shy once the Spaniard's penalty was added. However, Alonso was penalised post-race for a track limits violation, giving him a another five-second penalty, bumping Alex up to P9 in the final classification - securing two more points for the team at Williams Racing.
Alex Albon, Williams Racing Driver #23:
“Today we found the pace that I knew we had all weekend. We had a tough Qualifying yesterday which meant we were slightly out of position with a well-performing car, so overtaking was possible and we made good progress."
“We had a little bit of fortune with some of the cars ahead of us getting caught up in incidents, but the important thing is that we were in a position to make the most of those opportunities when they came.
The team did a great job today, especially with the strategy, and so leaving Miami with more points is really special.”
Alex will return to his Williams Racing car in two-weeks time for the Spanish Grand Prix on the 20-22 May.