Alexander Albon admitted there was no one but him to blame for the crash which put him out in the first round of qualifying.
The Williams driver hit the barrier at the inside of turn one during Q1, damaging his front-left suspension. “It was a bit of a rookie error,” Albon said afterwards.
He said he was caught out by the increase in grip levels at the corner between his first two runs in qualifying. “I think I was first out on my first push [lap],” he told Sky, “so I was the first car through turn one and had absolutely no grip.
“Then when I came back a lap later, there was huge grip. But I can’t blame anyone but myself. It was a bit of a silly error, to be honest with you.”
Albon was ninth quickest overall in practice but is now set to start from the back of the grid. “It’s a shame because we’ve been really quick all weekend,” he said.
“I think we’ve been in the top eight almost every session. It should have been pretty much the same through qualifying. It’s just frustrating. I wish I had a restart button.”
He is doubtful he will be able to make up places easily in the race. “I actually did the long runs in FP2 and I really struggled to overtake cars in front, and we were clearly quicker than them,” he said.
“As soon as I got close to them I [struggled] and I actually overheated my tyres. So there’s still an element of tyre-saving that needs to be done around here which isn’t easy around a street track. We’re going to have to pick our moments.
“I’m hoping the weather or something comes into play tomorrow, you never know, but I feel like I’ve definitely put us on the back foot.”
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