F1 | Spanish GP | After a difficult race, Albon assures "five or six stops" would have make a better race for Williams, as Vettel recognises degradation caused "Formula 2 pace"
The drivers give their thoughts after a challenging Spanish GP.
The latest F1 race proved to be an interesting one at Barcelona where the track-temperatures were expected to reach the 50°c and with it, put on a challenge for the Formula 1 drivers looking for glory at the Spanish GP.
Sebastian Vettel faced the sixth round of the championship with a new and polemic package on his AMR22 aiming to improve the performance of the team that currently sits P9 in the constructors’ championship standings. He gathered his thoughts in his debrief of the race to MotorLat and another selected media.
“Obviously we are not taking any points, which was the target so we missed. Not just because the gap with Yuki was quite big but we tried.”
“I think for everybody the car today felt poor because it’s so hot and so slippery with the tyres. I think we were like Formula 2 in terms of qualifying pace in the race. But we managed well, I think we managed the tyres well,” the German said.
“We know there’s still very much work to do with this new package. We knew that is not going to be a massive step forward straight away, but we believe it is a better direction for the future.”
Staying focused on the end goal. 💪
— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) May 22, 2022
Debrief the #SpanishGP with #SV5 in our race report, presented by @aramco. ⬇️
Another driver that seemed to struggle throughout the weekend in Barcelona was Alex Albon, the Williams’ driver that has scored all three points for the team in this 2022 season stated the degradation in the Catalunya Circuit was so absurd that he could barely believe it.
“On the laps to the grid I was already getting tyre deg and it was the same in the race,” he stated.
“We did a four-stop but I could have done a five or six stop and it probably would have been quicker,” Albon said after the race in Spain to MotorLat and other media outlets.
“There was just incredible degradation, I think I was 20kph slower than everyone else in turn three and turn nine, just struggling out there. We’re not normally that bad. I think there is something we just need to check because that wasn’t normal.”
“I was driving as slow as I could and the tyres were still going off. And not like a little bit, I was driving my first three laps two and a half, three seconds slower than I would normally and then it was still degrading massively. It was seconds lost straightaway after the first lap.”
“So it was a bit strange. As I said, it’s not normal. The deg was high and we expected that but today was indeed a bit strange,” he concluded.
One long afternoon and a weekend to forget 🥵 floor damage early on ruined our race and then we were just surviving. Onwards to Monaco where we’ll bounce back! 👊 pic.twitter.com/mPF8DFo4NM
— Alex Albon (@alex_albon) May 23, 2022
