Albon "enjoyed" sketchy São Paulo qualifying as Williams hope for more rain
By Alex Albon's own count, the steering wheel never sat straight on a single lap at Interlagos on Sunday. The Williams driver still dragged his car into Q3 in treacherous wet conditions and finished tenth fastest with a 1:30.456.
It was a session that rewarded patience and nerve. Qualifying was suspended for more than 80 minutes after heavy rain and the first segment restarted on full wets. Albon progressed from a 1:33.150 in Q1 to a 1:28.918 in Q2 as the track improved.
His teammate Carlos Sainz was eliminated in Q2 in 15th. Lando Norris took pole with a 1:27.470 just before the rain returned, with George Russell second fastest. In Q3 Russell was told to back off behind Albon to open a gap for another attempt, a plan the weather ended.
Albon came out of it with his hands tired and his mood high. “I had to keep reminding myself to stop tensing the wheel so hard,” he said. He described a session with very little margin. “It’s sketchy out there, really sketchy, I think, for everyone, but I don’t think the steering was straight once on any lap, so it was good fun, I enjoyed it.”
Albon agreed that wet weather was exactly what Williams had been hoping for to pick up more points before the end of the season. A tenth place on the road also looks better on the grid, with Russell facing a five-place penalty, Charles Leclerc a ten-place drop and Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen set to start from the back after power-unit penalties.
Albon expects those penalties to help. “I think with some penalties ahead as well, we can start a bit further up as a team,” he said.
The weather is still the deciding factor. “Let’s hope it stays wet for tomorrow,” Albon said. “We need it also to stay wet for tomorrow to have a chance to score some points, but we’ll give it everything we can.”
A dry race would take away the advantage Williams found on Saturday, so the team will be watching the sky as closely as the timing screens.
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