Albon: “We had the potential to win”

Alexander albon almost snatched victory from the Mercedes at the Austrian GP. In the group of leaders throughout the race, the driver Red Bull took advantage of the entry of the safety car to change his tires unlike the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas et Lewis Hamilton.

The Thai took advantage of a final restart in the final laps to try to overtake the six-time world champion, but the Briton caught the RB16. If the Mercedes driver was penalized, the Red Bull Racing resident fell to the back of the peloton and finally had to retire.

LAP 61/71:

Contact between Albon and Hamilton at the restart!

Albon spins and drops to P13 #AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/5iImqmGcVR

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 5, 2020

“I'm a little frustrated and I don't really want to talk about the incident, but I think we had the potential to win, recognized Alexander Albon who hoped to achieve his first podium in F1. We had a good strategy. I had to overtake Lewis Hamilton quickly to aim for victory and I thought I had achieved it. I was already focused on Bottas and the contact surprised me even more. »

Alexander Albon is aware of having lost a great opportunity to shine, as the circumstances of the race favored the Red Bull driver. The Thai does not seem convinced of having the same chances next weekend for the Styrian GP contested on the same circuit.

“There is next week, but the Mercedes have a clear advantage in terms of speed, he admitted. We made a difference on the strategy, but I don't know if I will have the same opportunity next weekend. »

Red Bull Racing begins the season with a double retirement since Max Verstappen abandoned due to mechanical problem. Lewis Hamilton apologized to the Thai for his maneuver.

Discover the analysis of the Austrian GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2268 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.