Alexander Albon was thrilled with the performance of his Williams after keeping Max Verstappen in sight throughout the Miami Grand Prix.
He finished fifth, one place behind his former team mate, the pair separated by 5.7 seconds at the flag.“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Max from start to finish, not even in my Red Bull days,” Albon admitted after the race. “So it was nice to see him.”
Williams have started the season strongly but Albon said they realised immediately that Miami would be a particularly strong venue for them.
“At the end of the race we were, mostly, one of the quickest cars on-track. So it’s a great turnaround.
“The car’s been feeling good all weekend. From the very first lap we drove around the track in FP1, I knew it was going to be a good weekend. It’s not going to be like this every weekend, we’re going to need to take these moments.”
Albon’s fifth place was some recompense for the fourth place he lost after yesterday’s sprint race, when he was penalised for failing to slow sufficiently during a Safety Car period.
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“Truthfully it was quite an emotional day yesterday,” he admitted. “I felt like after having the penalty in the sprint race, then just getting the focus in qualifying, it just was a weird day yesterday. I had some good sleep last night, reset, felt fresh, and then just attacked today.”
He suspects he might have been able to finish higher than fifth if George Russell had not been able to save time by making his pit stop during a Virtual Safety Car period.
“We had really good pace,” he said. “We were struggling a little bit with engine temperatures, so it was really important to get past Carlos [Sainz Jnr]. And then we caught up to Max.
“Honestly, we had really good pace, I was quite comfortable in my position. I would even argue that George got a little bit lucky with the VSC. Otherwise, a P4 was even possible today.
“It’s crazy to say, also just amazing to be able to even see the podium. I had George and Max in front of me, visually, the whole race without an actual Safety Car. That’s just testament to the progress we’re making at Williams. I think this track suited us clearly, but I’m very happy.”
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Luke S (@joeypropane)
5th May 2025, 8:41
4th and 5th on the road for Albon is a huge performance – especially when Sainz is still having such erratic weekends.
BasCB (@bascb)
5th May 2025, 10:18
In this race Sainz was decent enough. He just got unlucky with where the second VSC turned green since it gave both Ferraris right behind him the slipstream to pass him. With a tad more luck (it stopping slightly earlier or slightly later) he could have finished ahead of both of them.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
5th May 2025, 12:21
Furthermore he had to start on used tires compared to anyone else around him and apparently he had quite severe overheating issues earlier on too.
BasCB (@bascb)
5th May 2025, 20:03
Oh, that makes it make even more sense how 1. Williams wanted Albon to be his rear guard, but Albon wasn’t into it but on the other hand it makes it more impressive how he was running as well as he did especially in the first part of the race
Niclas Horn
6th May 2025, 9:31
Albin has been driving the Williams for years, Carlos just came from s totally different car. It’s super hard to switch teams in F1 cuz the cars are so different. It’s not IndyCar there all car’s comes from the same factory….
GechiChan (@gechichan)
5th May 2025, 12:15
I really think James Vowles does a great job at Williams. He managed to turn the team around, after years of being at the bottom, now they have an actual chance of getting podiums on pure pace. So happy for them!
Plus they have one of the best driver line-ups in my opinion… not all-stars, but solid experienced drivers who seem to put their team first and not their ego.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th May 2025, 18:56
Yes, they’re doing well, however even beating ferrari on merit like they did here, they still have 3 faster cars ahead, it’s difficult to get back to being a top team like they were in 2003, back then they only had to contend with mclaren and ferrari, now that mclarens are recently back to being a top team they also have merc and red bull, which have been more consistently able to deliver a strong car.
dot_com (@dot_com)
5th May 2025, 12:23
I’ve been a struggling Williams fan for a LONG time, and this era or Vowles, Albon, Sainz, good financial backing and sponsors, is one of the best feelings I’ve had in a while. It’s amazing that they were pretty much on pace with Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari throughout the weekend. It’s a huge turnaround.
Scotty (@rockonscotty)
5th May 2025, 18:03
+1
DMC
5th May 2025, 19:01
If they keep this up they could be the new mclaren!
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
5th May 2025, 19:11
So many former RBR #2 drivers are all quite amazing infact.
Albon is probably now reaching his prime and Williams is better. Fast Williams is excellent news for smaller teams. Maybe they might snatch a podium this year.