Following a challenging start to the 2024 Formula 1 season, Williams’ Alex Albon carried his ‘zero-points’ form at Saudi Arabian GP as well. This Thai-Briton subtly blamed Haas’ ‘block and drive’ tactics for his ‘pointless’ run at the Jeddah circuit.
However, as for today, Alex Albon has now come out with some ‘surprising’ words that will surely make the FIA’s bad day even worse.
Alex Albon requests for one major rule change
At the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP, the Haas F1 team-Kevin Magnussen to be precise-put forth a ‘controversial’ race tactics, where Magnussen was seen ‘blocking and driving’ to keep his teammate Nico Hulkenberg in a point-scoring position.
Due to Magnussen’s ‘block and drive’ racing, Alex Albon was almost pushed off into the sidewalls by the Dane at the entrance to Turn 4. This resulted in Albon losing his spot to the Haas’ ‘blocker’, who drove over the wide pavement to secure his position. As a consequence, Magnussen received two penalties (only one was applied), while the Thai missed out on scoring a point due to this.
In a recent interview, Alex Albon, who fell in a ‘no-points-scoring’ spot behind Hulkenberg at Jeddah, has proposed stricter measures to be taken by the FIA for such ‘controversial’ moves in the future races. Talking about Magnussen’s off-track gain, he started, by saying “A drive-through I think would work well.”
“I don’t know how the other drivers feel about it, but I distinctly remember George [Russell’s] in Monza and five to 10 seconds is still not really a punishing situation, especially, if you are a top team because you can easily pull out 10 seconds and if you do it early enough in the race, even more so”, he added, naming Russell’s incident as an example.
“Tyre deg, around most tracks, can be one or two seconds a lap so it only takes five laps to achieve it. So, let’s see how it goes but it needs a review, just maybe a strong stance on it – you have to give the position back.”
“I know there has kind of been an incentive to leave it up to the teams and drivers to decide if they need to give the position back, but in such a clear-cut situation like that, I’d force the position to be given back”, he told, concluding on the topic.
These strong suggestions from the Williams’ man come at a time, when he is having a difficult run, as seen in his performance at the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP.
Alex Albon 2024 Saudi Arabian GP performance
In the 2024 season, Alex Albon-the Williams’ #1 driver-has started the first two Grand Prix races with a poorer form compared to his ’23 starts, with two losses in the opening two Grand Prix races.
At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the Thai-Briton had a pretty disappointing run with his ‘unchanged’ Williams FW46 at the Jeddah circuit: a P11 finish with a ‘massive’ gap time of +88.354s from top-runner Max Verstappen. He fell short in the ‘no-points-scoring’ P11 spot behind the ‘P10-placed’ Hulkenberg by almost 9 seconds.
| EVENT | POS | TIME | GAP | LAPS | POINTS |
| Practice 1 | P10 | 1:30.747 | +1.088s | 26 | – |
| Practice 2 | P14 | 1:29.789 | +0.962s | 28 | – |
| Practice 3 | P17 | 1:29.808 | +1.396s | 13 | – |
| Qualifying | P12 | 1:29.107 (Q1) 1:28.980 (Q2) | – | 16 | – |
| Race | P11 | 1:22:11.627 | +88.354s | 50 | 0 |
However, Albon had a worser sprint in the pre-race sessions of the Saudi Arabian GP. In the qualifying rounds, he finished in the P12 spot, failing to meet the Q3 lap times in Q1 and Q3.
In the practice sessions, he delivered his worst runs of the Jeddah Corniche circuit, where he shifted between the ‘P10-to-P17’ margin. The ‘best of his worst’ runs came at the FP1 session, as he finished at P10 with a +1.088 seconds of gap time.
After the first two rounds of the 2024 F1 season, he is now sitting in the P13 spot in the Driver’s Standings with a grand total of 0 points.
As for now, Alex Albon will again take on Kevin Magnussen at Albert Park on 24th March for the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.
Is Albon trying to hide his poor run by blaming Magnussen’s ‘block and drive’ tactics? Should the FIA even listen to his request? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
