‘I don’t think I did anything wrong’ – Albon on Lap 1 crash that knocked him out of the Mexico City Grand Prix

Having started ninth, Albon was chasing a first points score since Baku. But instead, he headed off for an early bath after picking up his second DNF in the past three Grands Prix, to go with a disappointing P16 in Austin.

Team mate Franco Colapinto didn’t have an easy day of it either – something he put down to a poor qualifying, after he exited in Q1, struggling with the balance of his car over one lap. Starting down in P16 on the hard compound tyres, climbing back to the points for a second race in a row was always a tough ask.

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“Starting from P16 with a McLaren and a Red Bull behind, it was always going to be tricky,” he admitted. “We did a good job, I think we maximised what we had this weekend. The qualifying was very tough for us, the car was not in a good place and we were struggling with the rear.

“This track, rear overheats so much when you have a balance like that, and after a slide in T3, a snap in 4, 5 and 6 and it was like a snowball for us in qualifying as the car was not in the sweet spot. Today, we tried to maximise what we had.

“The tools in the car, I think we managed them very well in the race, we tried to do the best job we could to try and fix the balance.”