Alexander Albon beat Andrea Kimi Antonelli in their on-track battle in the Italian Grand Prix – and overtook the Mercedes driver in the championship.
As the Formula 1 season passed the two-thirds mark at Monza, Albon’s seventh place put the Williams-Mercedes driver two points ahead of the factory Mercedes driver in the standings. The stewards issued Antonelli a penalty which demoted him from eighth place to ninth for driving “erratically” as he unsuccessfully tried to prevent Albon passing him.
Albon scored just 12 points for Williams last year and finished 16th in the championship. He is now on 70, having taken points in four of the last five rounds. He is on course to equal his career-best championship position of seventh, which he scored while at Red Bull in 2020.
He said his results show Williams finally have a car which is capable of regularly scoring points. “It proves that we’ve firstly got a consistent car,” he said. “It’s been one of the biggest focus points for us last year and this year. That’s proving to be working.
“At the same time, even when my Saturdays are miserable, we somehow end up back in the points. I don’t know how, but I’ll keep it going, I’m enjoying it and obviously we’re trying to battle Kimi ’til Abu Dhabi.”
He climbed seven places to finish seventh in today’s race, a result he said was down to “fantastic strategy and great car pace.”
“I think [with those] two together, you’re going to have a good time with it,” said Albon. “It was meant to be a tough race on paper and actually, as we were the first hard[-tyred] car, once everyone pitted, it was quite – I don’t want to call it an easy race, but the car was really nice to drive.
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“One of the best Sundays, balance-wise, I’ve had all year. It always seems like when we run the low downforce cars, our balance improves as well. In many parts of that race we were just as quick as the top teams. It was a great comeback from a tough Saturday.”
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