Williams' F1 woes deepen in Japan after Alex Albon's 'must be me' radio outburst

Alex Albon has explained a bizarre post-qualifying rant where he jibed “it’s my driving style” at fault for a Q1 exit.

Albon exited qualifying in the first phase for the third time in four sessions this season, including sprint qualifying in China, with his only Q2 appearance coming at the Australian Grand Prix.

After this latest failure saw him qualify in 18th place – ahead only of Haas’ Ollie Bearman, and backmarkers Cadillac and Aston Martin – the Thai driver did not hide his frustration.

Asking the team where he had been slower than Williams team-mate Carlos Sainz, he received the reply: “You probably don’t want to know, but can probably guess.”

In response, Albon cut back: “Yes, I complain for three races in a row that there’s something wrong, but I’m sure that it’s my driving style.”

Having cooled somewhat by the time he arrived in the media pen, when asked by Crash.net what he could say about the potential issue on his car, Albon said: “Nothing I don’t want to say outside of the team, but generally just working on some issues, I think.

“The car feels good, balance was good, I think we’re quick in all the corners and we’re lacking elsewhere, so we’ll figure it out, but it’s something that on the radio, I feel like it’s been a thing for a while.

“But we just need to keep going at it, and just keep pushing on and seeing if we can see an issue.”

Pressed if he feels the team doesn’t believe his suggestions of a problem with his car, Albon added: “No, it’s not that they don’t believe me. The team are working hard on trying to figure out what’s going on, it’s just we haven’t found it yet.”

Albon has not been alone in venting frustration at the nature of qualifying in the latest F1 era, with drivers needing to lift off around high speed corners in order to gain battery that can be deployed on the straights.

Prodded further on whether a deployment issue was at the core of his problems, given the other aspects ruled out by the driver, he said: “Well, the corners are good, but the corners can be good around here.

“You can be quicker in every corner and you can finish the lap slower, because there is a penalty to be applied, so it is frustrating. I was really happy with my lap, actually, so it is what it is. It’s how it is at the moment.”