Alex Albon eyes race recovery as expected tyre issues scupper Italian GP qualifying

Alex Albon’s persistent tyre issues have returned once again, haunting his performance during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. The Williams driver will start in 14th for tomorrow’s race after qualifying one place behind team-mate Carlos Sainz. 

Williams boasted encouraging pace on the Friday ahead of the race weekend, with Sainz finishing third on the timesheets and Albon seventh for both FP1 and FP2. FP3 was less successful for the team, but qualifying was a struggle for both drivers as they failed to progress to Q3. 

“I think the car is still quick. The same car in qualifying, the same car we had in FP2 and FP1. It’s tyres. It’s been tyres all year and it’s tyres again today,” Albon explained. “I think this time we just, you know, most tracks there’s maybe one of us that can get it just in the window. This weekend I think we’ve tried absolutely everything in terms of out-laps, prep laps and can never get it to work.”

The Thai-British driver continued, explaining how the difference in formats between practice sessions and qualifying is affecting tyre preparation due to the drivers not being able to get their tyres into their window of operation.

“What you see in free practice is you see us do push laps, try to get on the first lap, it’s never ready on the first lap. You do two cool-down laps, you go again, the tyre gets hotter, it starts to work a bit more, it feels good.

“In qualifying, you have the minimum delta times you have to respect. You’re basically forced into making it the first lap and we can’t seem to get that tyre to bite.”

Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT Images via Getty Images

Further hiccups affected his Q2 appearance, with the car being pulled in to be weighed, which disrupted the timing and pacing of his out-lap. 

“You have to imagine that for me to get the tyre to work, I got weighbridged in Q2, so I basically have to get sent out in the middle of everyone’s push laps to guarantee myself a clear out-lap. An out-lap that’s maybe 15 seconds quicker than everyone else’s. And then I don’t even get the out-lap I want because I have to let all the cars pass who are on their push lap. By the time I go into Turn 1, I have to overtake six cars during my lap.”

He suggests that the car has more fundamental problems and the tyre issue is merely a symptom of them. 

“So ifs, buts and maybes — in the end, the problem is the tyre and the fact that we have to be so different to everyone. We cannot join everyone else out the pitlane and do the same thing as them. It’s frustrating, but it’s what we have. I don’t think we should focus only on tyres. It could also be our car — geometry or whatever. Maybe we’re not putting the load into the tyre like other teams are. We know our car’s quite peaky, wind sensitive, maybe also tyre sensitive as well.”

Describing the operating window of the tyres as “circumstantial” instead of something that has become increasingly narrow as the season has progressed, Albon admits that Baku will also pose a challenge in this regard, adding: “There are a few more like that. We need to come up with some solutions.”

Looking ahead to the Monza race, Albon is expecting the car to perform at a higher level due to the way he can control his tyre temperatures within the race format. But he warns that DRS trains could be a danger he and many others could be sucked into with DRS being so weak at Monza. 

“If we have a quick car, you’re right. In a race the tyres get hot and they actually work. I think we’re going to be OK. 

“It’s just one-stop DRS trains that I worry about. Hopefully, Carlos and I are together so maybe we can do something.” 

The driver was wary of these issues going into the weekend, admitting to the media that Williams “need to be, in many ways, even more on it than other teams when it comes to our garage pitlane exits, our out-laps, some of these kind of things.”

He added: “We know what we want to do with the tyres, but it’s not always possible to actually do it. That’s our issue.” 

Photos from Italian GP – Practice & Qualifying