F1 | Miami GP | Albon jokes about his ‘lucky’ red hair “getting points after starting P18, red-hair is here to stay”
The British-Thai driver Alex Albon has been riding a very positive wave scoring points in Melbourne and Miami with his FW44. As he jokes, this might be the effect of his new "lucky" red-hair.
After a year off the track, working as a test driver for Red Bull, Alex Albon has gained a seat behind the wheel of the Williams FW44. So far, he has proven not to have lost his skills.
Scoring his first point of the season for Williams at the Australian Grand Prix and after narrowly missing out with P11 in Imola, he brilliantly concluded the inaugural Miami race with a ninth place.
No one:@alex_albon with red hair: pic.twitter.com/d4LszZRDlx
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) May 8, 2022
The Miami track seemed to suit Albon’s FW44 impressing in both FP1 and FP3 with his flying laps on the soft compound tyre. In light of the speed he had shown in flying laps, it was quite surprising to see the British-Thai driver being excluded from Q2 in qualifying – with the driver himself describing his P18 placing as an “anomaly”.
“To be honest, qualifying was just the anomaly. Obviously, we understood the car all weekend, we just didn’t understand the car in qualifying, so we will look back at that and figure out what went wrong,” Albon told media after the race.
Despite the poor qualifying session, the new Williams driver has delivered a solid race. After working his way up the order from P18, he was running P12 when Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher collided, promoting him into the points come the chequered flag.
“I'm very happy. I think we showed our pace all weekend,” he commented.
“We had a tough quali and we were out of position. We had a quick car this weekend.
“We had a little bit of fortune with some of the cars ahead of us getting caught up in incidents, but the important thing is that we were in a position to make the most of those opportunities when they came... We’ll celebrate this one!” he said afterwards.
There was even better news to follow at the flag too, as his P10 became ninth thanks to a post-race penalty for Fernando Alonso, meaning an extra hard-won point was added to his tally.
“Points from P18 feels reaaaalllly good, I guess the red hair is here to stay,” wrote Albon on his Twitter ccount, referring to the eye-catching mop of red hair he showed up with after visiting an orphanage in Thailand.
When you find out you’re P9!! Points from P18 feels reaaaalllly good. I guess the red hair is here to stay 🤷♂️😆 Let’s keep pushing @WilliamsRacing 😤 pic.twitter.com/76ks2vIQF9
— Alex Albon (@alex_albon) May 9, 2022
