Despite the fact that the F1 Grand Prix of Miami was a battle of attrition for the Williams Racing team, the British team is very satisfied with the outcome of the race. Alex Albon finished in points in P9, teammate Nicholas Latifi in 14th in the inaugural Miami Grand Prix.
F1 Grand Prix of Miami : Max Verstappen to victory in masterly way.
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: It was a race of attrition and patience today and Alex was able to make the most of the opportunity and showed good pace throughout the race which allowed him to beat Daniel Ricciardo. Unfortunately the Safety Car was badly timed for us but Alex kept his cool and was still able to beat both Aston Martins but lost to Ocon frustratingly. Nevertheless, he rode well and earned his second points score of the season.
Nicholas had the more difficult strategy, starting on hard tires and aiming for a long run. That tire’s pace at the start of the race was bad for anyone who tried it and this set his strategy back. Once on the medium tire his speed was good, despite having to deal with higher than expected fuel consumption. He also led the race well, finishing in a credible 14th place, ahead of both Haas cars. The inaugural trip to Miami was a rollercoaster, but we recovered well after a disappointing qualifying session to push the pack hard today and finish in the top 10.
Alex Albon: Today we found the pace I knew we had all weekend. We had a tough qualifying yesterday which meant we were a bit out of position with a good performing car so overtaking was possible and we made good progress. We were a bit lucky with some of the cars in front of us getting caught up in incidents, but most importantly we were able to capitalize on those opportunities when they arose. The team did a great job today, especially with the strategy, and so leaving Miami with more points is really special.
Nicholas Latifi: It was a very difficult afternoon there. On the one hand it is very positive for the team to score the point with Alex, especially after where we started today, but on our side we had too many problems. It was difficult and we had to deal with some issues that were holding us back early on, including tire struggles and lack of speed, which we need to look into.