Alex Albon: Race pace in Baku was “really strong” despite finishing out of the points

In spite of finishing the Azerbaijan Grand Prix outside of the points in twelfth place, Williams Racing’s Alex Albon was happy with the performance of FW44, which showed pace that rivalled that of the midfield cars ahead. 

Considering his car’s competitive potential at Baku City Circuit, Albon said that the lap nine virtual safety car did not play into his favour. As a result, he was unable to finish ahead of Valtteri Bottas and make a challenge for the points positions. 

“It was a fun race here in Baku! We just got a bit unlucky with the VSC timing, otherwise we would have been in a better place to fight for points today, but again our race pace was actually really strong. 

“If you look at our pace relative to the midfield it was very strong; we were as quick if not quicker than a lot of cars in front of us. We had a good start, optimised what we had, and it was a well-executed race for us.”

“The race ended up being a very long and lonely one” – Nicholas Latifi

Team-mate Nicholas Latifi finished the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in fifteenth, last of the drivers who crossed the chequered flag, after receiving two penalties that kept him from challenging those ahead. 

The first penalty was applied due to a starting grid infringement, as a team member pushed the car back after the fifteen second warning period. Official FIA documentation from the Grand Prix stated that the car is required to start from the pit lane in this case, or take on a ten second stop and go penalty. 

Latifi endured the latter penalty, taking a stop on lap four to serve the ten seconds before continuing his race. He disagreed with the extent of the punishment, as there were no changes made to the car past the regulated time. 

“It’s unfortunate that the penalty undid everything before it even started. I feel like there should be some leniency applied for what the infringement was as I was just pushed back, and nothing was changed to the car.”

He would receive a five-second time penalty later in the race for ignoring blue flags, as he did not allow Pierre Gasly to pass within a reasonable amount of time. Latifi said that the number of blue flags he was shown added to the difficulty of the race, which he described as “very long and lonely”.

“It was tricky being so far off from the pack then the cycle of blue flags and getting caught by the leaders very early on. The race ended up being a very long and lonely one. We managed to get more mileage and laps with the car, but overall a challenging weekend on this track. A day to forget but excited to be heading straight to Canada for my first home race.”