After qualifying in the top ten and running there for part of the race, Alexander Albon could only manage a 12th place finish in the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix. The task of managing the tires was difficult for the Williams driver, who was powerless in the race context he found himself in.
Quoted on RaceFans.net, the Anglo-Thai driver explained that he couldn’t avoid difficulties with the tires: ‘Honestly, I don’t think it was as bad as it seemed. The safety car was probably against us. We knew we were going to have difficulties with graining. We did some things to try to help, but we couldn’t really escape from it’.
In Albon’s understanding, the drivers who changed tires during the safety car were in better conditions: ‘I think everyone who was on the same strategy as me had difficulties in the middle of the pack. Then, those who stopped during the safety car were, I don’t want to say ‘lucky’, but they were more suited. So, it was complicated’.
According to #23, there was little or nothing to be done about tire graining, describing the situation in a rather curious way: ‘I know how to take care of the tires, I know what I have to do to stop the graining, but you can’t do it because you have a chain of seven cars right behind you. You’re fighting every lap, you have to defend yourself in every corner. Your tires get dirty. It’s like an endless cycle of pain’.
