Alex Finishes Fourth in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Finale
Alex Albon rounded out the 2020 season with 4th position in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with Aston Martin Red Bull Ring.
The final round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship headed to the Yas Marina Circuit for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Alex at the wheel of his RB16 enjoyed a very solid start to the weekend with a pair of P4's on the Free Practice timesheets on Friday.
Into Qualifying, Alex easily made it through to Q3 - despite his first flying lap in Q2 on the Medium tyre being deleted due to track limits.
After the first runs in Q3, Alex lined up P4 - just 0.15s off pole position provisionally held by Valterri Bottas.
Alex sadly was unable to improve on his final run - meaning he would start from P5 on the grid for the Grand Prix and starting on the Soft compound tyre.
The Thai driver had a good getaway and shadowed the McLaren of Lando Norris in the early stages, passing the British driver on Lap 6 at the end of the back straight.
Following a Virtual Safety Car deployed to recover the stranded Racing Point of Sergio Perez, the team pitted Alex on Lap 11 to the Hard compound tyres with the plan of a one-stop strategy until the end of the 55 lap race.
Alex ran in P4 before the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, managing his tyres in the early stages in the anticipation for tyre degradation late in the race.
In the closing stages, Alex began to gain rapidly on Hamilton in front for the podium positions - sadly running out of laps and finishing 1.6s off a third podium finish of the season in a strong P4 at the chequered flag.
Alexander Albon (Car 23):
“I’m happy and I think if the race was a couple of laps longer I’d be even happier as I feel we could’ve got past Lewis and taken another podium today.
I was managing my tyres at the beginning of the stint and maybe I was too conservative as I had lots of life left in them at the end of the race whilst everyone else’s were starting to drop off. But overall it’s a great result for the Team today and I’m happy with my race.
I’ve felt very good with the car this weekend and it’s probably been my best in F1. There was obviously a lot of pressure coming into this race and my only goal was to focus on my performance and do the best job possible so I’m proud of how I’ve delivered under the circumstances.
It feels great to prove to everyone that I’m strong enough mentally to deal with all the external talk and keep improving.
As a Team we haven’t given up, I’ve had a lot of support from everyone back at the factory and we’ve worked hard with the engineers to make me more comfortable in the car.
Now I’m just looking forward to going home and relaxing with my family."
Press Release Content: Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Media Content: Red Bull Content Pool