Alexander Albon Scores Best F1 Result in Japanese Grand Prix


Honda obviously wanted a strong result at its home race, especially in a season that has seen the Japanese power unit return to winning ways after a 13-year drought.

In the end, the power unit saw its best result in Suzuka achieved by rookie star Alexander Albon, who finished just off the podium, taking the best result of his short career to date in Formula 1.
More significant still was his showing in qualifying, given that the Thai was able to equal team-mate Max Verstappen’s time to the nearest thousandth of a second before the Dutchman’s race was spoiled by the collision with Leclerc soon after the start.

Once he and his team had worked a two-stop strategy to bypass one-stopping Carlos Sainz, Albon had a lonely race, but he made no mistakes and got the best result possible, even if he was almost a minute down on Bottas.

“Fourth is my F1 career best finish and this weekend has definitely felt like my best with the Team. Immediately from FP1 I felt comfortable with the car and the balance, which is important for a track like Suzuka where you need a lot of confidence, especially on your first visit! I wanted more in the race and felt like I could have done better at the start but I had too much wheel spin off the line and lost a couple of places to the McLarens. I managed to get back past them but by then I had already lost a lot of time to the lead pack. The move on Lando for P5 was on, he gave me space and left the door open but it was a bit tight! We then managed to get past Carlos with some good strategy by undercutting him, but from then onwards we were in no man’s land in P4. It was just about managing the tyres to the end but with Max’s DNF it was good to score some points for the Team and fourth was the best we could do. I’m still finding my feet but overall I’m happy with my pace and progress and we took a step forward this weekend. Coming into the weekend we probably wanted more, especially for Honda, and we were close but we just didn’t quite have the pace. Now we’ll do our homework and hopefully come back stronger in Mexico,” said Albon.

Of the three rookies this year, Alex has had the best results, though obviously his chances of scoring received a boost during the summer break when he was drafted into a top team.

However, driving a Red Bull brings a lot more pressure – not just in going up against a superstar such as Verstappen, but also in doing enough to hang onto the seat for 2020.

With four races to go, Albon is eighth in the Drivers’ standings, 12 points behind sixth placed Carlos Sainz. It’s a target that’s within reach and could ensure his place in the sun for next year.

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