Palmer: Albon executed the Williams strategy perfectly

In Melbourne, Alex Albon completed 57 laps on hard tires but only switched to soft tires on the final lap of the race. A daring strategy saw the Williams driver finish tenth and take his first podium point of the season.

Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer commented in a column on how external circumstances helped implement Williams’ strategy.

After George Russell’s transfer to Mercedes, Williams feared no one could replace him, but Alex Albon’s arrival could be seen as another success story. He brilliantly replaced Russell and earned the team their first podium score of the season in Melbourne.

The opening stages reminded Williams of last year’s history – quite a brisk pace in qualifying, but a lack of pace on Sunday. Everything has changed in Australia.

Alex started last due to a disqualification due to insufficient fuel in the tanks after qualifying. It looked like the driver was going to have a difficult day, but in the end it turned out to be a fairytale for the team – thanks to a perfectly executed strategy, Albon finished in the top ten.

Albert Park is a temporary track where the fences are close enough to the race ring. This greatly increases the chance that the safety car will leave the race. In addition, we saw a lot of mistakes on Sunday, and even from eminent racers like Carlos Sainz and Sebastian Vettel – their mistakes ended with the safety car gathering and leaving.

At the time of Vettel’s accident, Albon was unable to change tires as he started on a hard composition and was not yet over the middle of the distance by then. In the same position were Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso. Theoretically, this ruined their strategy, as anyone who started the race on Medium was entitled to a “free” pit stop and switched to Hard, where they reached the finish line.

Essentially, Alonso, Magnussen and Albon had to make up for the pit stop time in the remaining laps, and they had to do it on fairly worn tires compared to the rivals’ new Hard lineups. It was for this reason that Alonso and Magnussen seized the opportunity to make a pit stop when the virtual safety car was activated due to Max Verstappen’s stop. This allowed them to make a pit stop with less time loss.

Williams decided to keep Albon on the track – the decision worked perfectly. After the finish at Haas and Alpine, they appreciated Williams’ strategy and regretted the missed opportunity. In theory, it looked like Albon would roll back after the pit stop, but the perfect turn of events allowed him to carry out the plan.

First Lance Stroll managed to climb into the top ten, but he didn’t have enough speed to stay in it. This meant that an “engine” was forming behind him, and these rivals drove much slower than Albon in front.

It also played into Albon’s hands that Stroll defended himself aggressively and was given a penalty for his actions, even better news for Alex. Rivals behind Lance knew the rider was waiting for a penalty so they didn’t take any unnecessary risks overtaking the Canadian. With this, Albon created a colossal lead over rivals who had to go much faster than his Williams on a worn-out Hard set.

Another factor was Albon’s own pace. At the wheel of the car, which did not allow to reach the second part of qualifying, Alex drove exclusively. In the final 18 laps he pretty much matched McLaren’s pace and kept the lead over Esteban Ocon. The strategy was executed to perfection – Williams waited until the last minute to pit as late as possible and Alex returned to the track ahead of Zhou.

A point gave Williams a lead over Aston Martin in the Constructors’ Championship, which had one of its worst weekends. Williams has proven to be able to race at speed when the right conditions arise. Now the team will work hard to understand how they did and try to earn points regularly.

As for Albon, Williams was happy to work with him during the test in Barcelona. He is popular with the team and this early result should encourage him. There is no reason to believe that the deserved point will not be the first of many, as George Russell did last year.