This season Alex Albon has reached the qualifying final more than once and in Monza he did so again, after which the Williams driver noted that the technical innovations the team introduced back in Zandvoort helped. His new partner, Franco Colapinto, showed the 18th result.
Alex Albon (9th): “Excellent result, I am very happy. We have been the best of the peloton so far this weekend, but that is what we were hoping for, although I don’t think we really believed we could reach that level. In general, everything is going well so far.
If the car can run at a good pace in practice, the pressure increases because it is important to get results in qualifying, but we did well. Monza is very different to Zandvoort and although technical innovations take their toll, we know that the Italian circuit suits our car well. But at the same time we know that without the new products we would not have been able to reach the final session.
We raced against Haas throughout qualifying and it looks like their car can maintain a slightly higher pace as the race progresses. What worries us most is the rubber degradation, but we’ll see how it all plays out.”
Franco Colapinto (18th): “The first qualifying in Formula 1 was a special experience for me. So far every moment of this weekend has been a pleasure. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake on the second attempt, which prevented me from driving a good lap.
In the first attempt I showed a good time, and of course in the second fast lap I tried to make a step forward. Thanks to the car I could drive quite fast and I think I had the chance to fight for access to the second session.
However, this is just the beginning and I still have a lot of work to do, because I haven’t done many laps in a Formula 1 car so far. I’m a bit disappointed at the moment, but I know the potential is there and the team is working hard to make the car a better fit for me.
Tomorrow we have a great opportunity to learn more about the FW46, how the tyres work, and also to understand how we need to work over the whole Grand Prix distance.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
