– Alexander Albon might have had a chance to score points at the Formula 1 race in Zandvoort last weekend. However, Williams’ strategy on Sunday didn’t work out, so Albon was relegated to the back of the field after a good first stint.
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“I’m slowly getting used to it this year, but you can’t imagine how many blue flags you get in the middle of the race,” Albon describes his race, explaining that he had to ease off the throttle “every second lap” due to a blue flag.
After the red flag at the start, Albon was one of only four drivers to restart the race on hard tires and was subsequently in P11, just outside the points. When he came in for his pit stop at the end of lap 26, he was even eighth, as some drivers ahead of him had already stopped.
However, just a few laps after his stop, Albon received the first blue flags – and thus could no longer exploit the advantage of fresher tires. “Every lap you get ‘dirty air’ from cars you don’t really want to fight against,” he explains.
Photo gallery: Zandvoort: Driver ratings from Marc Surer and the editorial team
Furthermore, due to the blue flags, one constantly has to move off the racing line and onto the dirty part of the track. While Albon gradually had to let more and more drivers lap him, others used this phase of the race for their first or already their second stop.
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Albon explains that these drivers now had the advantage of fresher tires, “and they gain three or four seconds per lap due to the blue flags. Within five laps, the cars that just pitted ahead of you are already behind you again.”
“Now they have good tires and overtake you,” says Albon, explaining that he lost all chances of a good result during this phase of the race. When he himself later came in for his second stop, he only returned to the track in P16.
After a collision with his teammate Carlos Sainz, his race finally ended prematurely.
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