Alexander Albon was thrilled with the performance of his Williams after keeping Max Verstappen in sight throughout the Miami Grand Prix.
He finished fifth, one place behind his former team mate, the pair separated by 5.7 seconds at the flag.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Max from start to finish, not even in my Red Bull days,” Albon admitted after the race. “So it was nice to see him.”
Williams have started the season strongly but Albon said they realised immediately that Miami would be a particularly strong venue for them.
“At the end of the race we were, mostly, one of the quickest cars on-track. So it’s a great turnaround.
“The car’s been feeling good all weekend. From the very first lap we drove around the track in FP1, I knew it was going to be a good weekend. It’s not going to be like this every weekend, we’re going to need to take these moments.”
Albon’s fifth place was some recompense for the fourth place he lost after yesterday’s sprint race, when he was penalised for failing to slow sufficiently during a Safety Car period.
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“Truthfully it was quite an emotional day yesterday,” he admitted. “I felt like after having the penalty in the sprint race, then just getting the focus in qualifying, it just was a weird day yesterday. I had some good sleep last night, reset, felt fresh, and then just attacked today.”
He suspects he might have been able to finish higher than fifth if George Russell had not been able to save time by making his pit stop during a Virtual Safety Car period.
“We had really good pace,” he said. “We were struggling a little bit with engine temperatures, so it was really important to get past Carlos [Sainz Jnr]. And then we caught up to Max.
“Honestly, we had really good pace, I was quite comfortable in my position. I would even argue that George got a little bit lucky with the VSC. Otherwise, a P4 was even possible today.
“It’s crazy to say, also just amazing to be able to even see the podium. I had George and Max in front of me, visually, the whole race without an actual Safety Car. That’s just testament to the progress we’re making at Williams. I think this track suited us clearly, but I’m very happy.”
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