Alex Albon has clarified his mid-race radio outburst to his Williams team engineers during Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix, claiming unsynced relaying of them on TV coverage did not tell the whole story.
The Anglo-Thai driver’s race typified a frustrating weekend for the Grove-based squad, in which a lot of speed and promise was shown, but a combination of situations condemned the team to leave Canada with just one point.
Albon qualified in 10th, but a power unit failure saw him retire on Lap 46.
Williams’ strategic calls had appeared to frustrate Albon, who, over radio, said: “I don’t know why you don’t listen to me.”
This was followed by another message berating the team when he was called in for fresh tyres a few laps later.
After the race, Albon was quick to point out that the messages were evidently not all being played on the international TV feed, but did so by seeing the funny side.
“I feel like they strategically played my radio messages,” he told media including Motorsport Week with a smile.
“I was saying it every single lap that this was not the right thing to do, but they wait until certain moments to post it.”
Frustrated Albon laments ‘missed opportunity’ in Canada
Albon’s frustration had come from the fact that the FW47 was showing genuine pace around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but came away virtually empty-handed, leaving an open goal missed to secure more points in the midfield battle in the Constructors’ Championship.
“We missed an opportunity this weekend,” he said. “I think we’ve been quick, we missed out in qualifying, we need to get on top of the tyres, need to understand the car with the wind sensitivity still playing a little bit this weekend.
“The car was really strong in the race, easy top 10 and it’s frustrating to miss out.”
However, Albon was content to place blame on himself, too, admitting his first lap “wasn’t good,” adding: “I need to do a better job.”
A concern of late for its engine supplier Mercedes has been the recent spate of power unit failures, with Albon’s being the latest.
Albon explained that the car being caught in the dirty air amid a multi-car train was a catalyst, rendering the FW47 unable to sufficiently get clean air into its intake, and said: “it’s not just going to be this race that happens”.
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