Scuderia Toro Rosso Thai Driver Alexander Albon secured 6th position in an epic German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, taking his best finish of his young Formula One career so far.

Alex made his return to the Hockenheimring, a track he hadn't raced on his his 2016 GP3 Series campaign - but hit the ground running by matching his experienced teammate throughout FP1 and FP2 in scorching hot coditions during Friday.

Saturday qualifying was more difficult for the team, where Alex qualified in 17th position after being baulked at the hairpin on his fastest lap, ending his chances of securing a spot in Q2.

Race day saw the heavens open, where the race initially started behind the Safety Car until the conditions were good enough for the cars to make the traditional standing start.
This was Alex's first time driving a Formula One car in wet conditions, but he took too it very well - scything through the field and into the points paying position, following a bolf move to go onto the Intermediate tyres on Lap 2.

In a wet-dry, changeable weather race providing numerous oppourtunites for mistakes, Alex put in a great performance - even battling with Lewis Hamilton for 3rd position following the second Safety Car period.

The conditions dried out in the closing stages of the race, where drivers who gambled on pitting for Slick tyres early benefitted hugely, this meant Alex was undercut by drivers in the pits during the final Safety Car. The Thai driver defended well in the closing stages, bagging a 6th place finish - the best finish of his Formula One career so far.

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‍Alexander Albon (Car 23):

"It was a good race today! I was a bit scared at the start, learning how the car behaves in the wet around this track, although, I’m really happy with how I performed as it was my first time in these conditions in an F1 car.

The pace was really good, we were a bit fortunate and we timed our first pitstop right, and I was really excited racing in P4, I was thinking ‘OK here we go!’
Unfortunately, at the second stop we were caught out and pitted a lap later than Dany to switch from wet tyres to dry, so four cars passed us. It’s funny, it’s like a disappointing P6 because we were running in P4 for quite a while.

It was an amazing job by the team, the strategy was great and we were able to bounce back from a difficult Qualifying."

Following the epic German Grand Prix, the Formula One calendar next heads to the Hungaroring Circuit in Budapest, for the 12th round of the championship on the 2-4 August.
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Press Release Content: Scuderia Toro Rosso
Media Content: Red Bull Content Pool

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