03/09/2023
NEWS STORY
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: We came to Monza thinking that we could score points on merit and we achieved that today. The hot conditions were not ideal for us, but we know that this is an area that we need to work on, and we are working hard to improve the situation.
Both drivers were very good, especially given the high tyre degradation and hot conditions. Alex was brilliant again and was able to frustrate the McLarens for almost the entire race. It was a shame that he couldn't stay within 5 seconds of Lewis at the end, but to lose only one position following a very strong showing in Qualifying is an excellent result.
Logan drove very well and for a time it looked like he could secure a points-scoring position. In the end Valtteri had too much pace and was able to overtake. Nonetheless, racing at low downforce on a hot track and with soft compounds is a very valuable experience and one that he can build on, starting in Singapore in two weeks' time.
Alex Albon: That was probably my toughest but my most proud race I've done, so I'm very happy. I'm sure Lando didn't enjoy that one too much, but I did! We went into today knowing it was going to be a tough, long race and we knew tyre deg would be high. I think on paper we went into this weekend expecting to be a little bit quicker than we were and four laps into the race I knew it would be long, but we managed to keep everyone behind. We were on used Mediums and used Hards so we made it tough for ourselves; I wouldn't want to do that race again but I'm super happy with the result. Scoring points two races in a row is really enjoyable. From where we were at the start of the year to now is amazing. I don't think the next few races will be easy for us so let's enjoy these ones.
Logan Sargeant: It was a tricky race in general. We tried to make the one stop work after boxing early for the Hards, and I think it was just a bit too long on that stint considering the balance I had in the race, but unfortunately there was nothing we could do to get the car in the right window today. I struggled to keep hold of the Hard tyres and suffered quite a bit of oversteer. If we had the car in a better window we could have held on until the end. Looking at the next races, we will keep working really hard, try to put the car on the ground in a good window, and hopefully have good pace.