Alex Heads into Summer Break after Strong Opening to the Season
Alex Albon heads into the annual Formula One Summer Break, capping off a strong opening half of the season at the Hungaroring.
Hungary hosts the traditional end of the first part of the Formula One season, and the twisty nature of the track is always a real test for the cars and strategy.
Alex endured a difficult Saturday, with the car performance not quite suiting the track - as he Qualified in P17 for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.
The start of the Grand Prix took place with the threat of rain in the air, as Alex made a strong and bold start to gain positions early on.
However, contact with Lance Stroll at Turn 2 on the first lap meant Alex had to pit for a new front wing and he spent the rest of his day recovering ground from the back before catching up on other runners and executing some stellar overtakes.
As the race went on, the mix of strategies began to play out, but with overtaking being notoriously difficult here - Alex was unable to get back to the position his pace warranted.
The Thai racer would battle back to P17 at the Chequered Flag, ahead of his teammate Nicolas Latifi.
Even though the Lap 1 contact hindered Albono’s process, Alex was still able to see the positives.
Alex Albon, Williams Racing Driver #23:
“The race was okay. We were a bit out of sequence with the early damage and there was a lot of tyre degradation and pitstops, which didn’t make it easy.
It’s been a tricky weekend for us, but it has been a good learning weekend, continuing to understand the strengths and the weaknesses of the new package."
"Looking back at the season so far, personally I’m happy. It’s gone well and better than I expected, and I go into the summer break pretty happy."
"Obviously, we’re not where we want to be positioning on circuits, but we’ve got time to reset now and we’ll come back stronger after the break.”
Alex will enjoy a few weeks break over the 'Summer Shutdown', however he will be back in action on the 26-28 August for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.