Alex Albon says having to drive defensively to hold onto his impressive seventh place in the Canadian Grand Prix was not particularly enjoyable given the pressure he was under.
Williams brought Albon an upgraded car to Montreal and he duly delivered by reaching Q3 before climbing into the top seven early on. That was achieved by one-stopping and doing 58 laps on one set of hard tires — holding off George Russell and then Esteban Ocon for a long spell — with Albon saying the tough strategy was necessary to get ahead of other cars of comparable performance.
“I do think we had similar pace to the McLarens the whole weekend — I feel like realistically, where we were, we had to do something different to them in front as they were in front to get the points,” Albon said. “We’ve had very good pace this weekend. To still get points is difficult. You’ve got those eight cars — the Astons, the Red Bulls, the Ferraris and the Mercedes — (and) the final two positions, it normally feels like it’s the Alpines now.
“So we had to stick to the one-stop. And when the guys told me I had, I don’t know what it was, 35 or 40 laps (to go), I think they even told me 20 to make me feel better! I looked at the TV screen, and I was like ‘Oh my god, I hope that’s not real!’
“I had a grunt, because I was like, ‘Uh…’ I’ve done these races a lot now. I can tell you they’re not that fun. We’re good at defending, we have a straight-line car. In these situations, it’s all about trying. You’re obviously at a big tire deficit, but at the same time saving the tires to make the key corners count — Turn 10 — making sure I positioned the car in Esteban’s dirty air to try to make him hurt his tires, his traction, that kind of thing.
“So you’re driving a race that’s very much in your rear-view mirrors, even though you’re trying not to make mistakes. The other thing is obviously when the tread comes down, the tires start to cool down quite a lot, and you have to start pushing. By the end of the race, you can see white parts where you’re right down to the canvas. You’ve got to push flat out, it feels like qualifying for the last 20 laps, but at the same time, you can’t afford to make a mistake. There’s this real balance going on. But that’s what we’re paid for.”