Alex Albon finished in P18 in the sweltering conditions at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, in a difficult weekend for the Williams Racing driver.

Returning to a track all the teams know well from testing - everyone hit the ground running in Qualifying in the Spanish sun.
Alex sat P16 after his first run in Q1 but found himself caught up in traffic caused by a queue at the pit exit, forcing him to get his elbows out on the out lap and being unable to improve upon his 1:21.645 - this meant he would start the Spanish Grand Prix from P19 after missing the chance to complete a proper final flying lap.

Alex made a good start to the Grand Prix, climbing to P16 at the end of the first lap as the heat was unrelenting!
With a track surface temperature just shy of 50°C throwing early predictions of a two-stop race out of the window – Alex pitted for his first stop on Lap 12, fitting the medium compound.

With Hamilton on a charge after his earlier stop, he passed Alex on Lap 14 before Albon engaged in a battle with Lance Stroll at the pit exit. The Thai driver initially came out on top before the Aston Martin got by on the following lap. Alex suffered floor damage in this stint, making the car performance suffer throughout the remainder of the race.

Shortly after the second round of stops, Zhou Guanyu was forced to retire, elevating Alex back up to P17 midway through the Grand Prix.

Magnussen, recovering from that Lap 1 collision, made his way past Alex on Lap 41, with Alex pulling in for some new rubber just five laps later.

Alex boxed for a fourth and final time on Lap 57, as earlier floor damage meant that tyre management almost impossible in the scorching Spanish sun.

The Thai driver crossed the line in P18 to round out a trying weekend in Barcelona.

After a run of strong results, Alex was disappointed with his P18 finish but is already looking to move forward as we prepare for Monaco next weekend.

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Alex Albon, Williams Racing Driver #23:

“It was a tough day out there. I picked up damage to the floor after my first stop which heavily impacted the car’s performance.
“There was a lot of tyre degradation and I really struggled with speed, especially into a couple of the corners.
“It’s unfortunate as it meant we didn’t really stand a chance today, but that’s racing sometimes and we’ll go again next week in Monaco.”

Formula One and Alex returns to the principality on the streets of Monte-Carlo next week on the 27-29 May.