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Alexander Albon has admitted frustration after he lost "six seconds" behind Carlos Sainz after his first pit stop of the Mexican Grand Prix.
Albon made it to the end of the race on a two-stop strategy, making his first stop on lap 14, one lap before Charles Leclerc, who was leading the race at the time.
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However, despite a rapid pit stop, Albon emerged behind Carlos Sainz, who pitted at the end of lap 15 to get rid of his soft tyres that he started the race on.
Albon claims he lost a handful of seconds behind the Spaniard, who was struggling on the soft compound.
"The problem was, every time I made a stop, I’d come out in traffic. I lost a lot of time with Carlos," Albon reflected.
"It was massively [frustrating]. To be honest, I was confused because I didn’t think I was racing Carlos. But he defended well, but I lost six seconds or something. It was a shame."
With some drivers getting to the end of the race on a one-stop strategy, Albon isn't quite sure that he would have been able to do the same.
"We did the two-stop obviously, I’m not sure if we could have done it on a one-stop," the Thai-British driver admitted. "Some bits of the race, our pace was quite good on the used tyres. We’ll have to have a better look at the factory and see if we could have done better.
"I’m just chipping away at it," he added of his Red Bull form. "Being consistent, showing the I’m improving, that’s the important thing."
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Replies (3)
Login to replyJuJuHound
Posts: 352
At the beginning of the race I thought we will win it but then he thought with Leclerc only losing plenty time after pit stop. I;m happy for him but I'm bit dissapointed not by the driving style but the way it ended. Maybe he is strugglin getting trough the field.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
I don't think he could match leclerc's pace in the second stint. still though, he's doing a solid job
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I feel he could probably've done better had he gotten a hard set rather than mediums on his first stop, but it is what it is. Also, RBH did kinda bollocks it uo when they pitted him so he came out into traffic.