The Qatar weekend was marked by significant news, including Adrian Newey’s appointment as Aston Martin’s new team principal for next season and, notably, the disqualification of both McLarens from the Las Vegas GP, directly impacting the championship standings. Another hot topic was engagement rules, with a meeting held last night between all drivers and the Race Commission to discuss what is permitted on track. Alexander Albon also weighed in on some of these issues during media day on Thursday in Lusail.
Albon reflects on his season and struggles
With two races remaining, Williams’ driver was asked to assess his difficult period and the differences from the start of the season, noting how momentum seems to have shifted in favor of his teammate, Carlos Sainz. “I’m not doing anything different. I don’t think anything has really changed. Monza and Zandvoort were good performances. In Austin and Mexico I had some issues that helped us understand some things about the car. Brazil wasn’t a track that suited us, and in Las Vegas I made a mistake myself. Sometimes there were strategic choices that didn’t work either. Now I’m aiming for a clean weekend,” he said.
Consistency in F1 decisions remains elusive
There are two main areas of discussion regarding controls, penalties, and how the FIA or race direction intervenes. The first concerns technical irregularities, such as what happened with McLaren in the last race. Alex Albon disagreed with Andrea Stella’s view that penalties should be proportional in such cases. “With these Formula 1 cars, every millimeter counts and can make a difference in performance. Mistakes can happen.” He explained that with this generation of cars, finding the right setup is very challenging due to extreme sensitivity to certain factors, especially during Sprint weekends or, like in Las Vegas, when clean practice sessions are impossible. “These rules are very difficult. We have to plan the car setup considering the wind we might face on race day. If it’s head-on, it can push the car down and cause porpoising, so adjustments are needed. You always have to be safe, but you might regret it at the end of the weekend when you see you didn’t stress the plank at all and could have pushed a bit more.”
Alex Albon agrees that tolerance for infractions should be minimal. He added another reflection: “I’d like all 20 cars to be checked every race, not randomly like now; I think that would be fairer.” He also noted that removing limits on skid wear or similar adjustments would encourage all teams to lower the cars and seek other, possibly “illegal” ways to gain performance. A particularly interesting point Albon made concerns the 2026 cars: “We’ll hear less about ride heights, but it will remain a factor. Teams will still try, front or back, to stay as close as possible to the asphalt.”
On race incidents, Alex Albon believes the situation can improve and that F1 needs more consistency and perhaps fewer rules. He admits he may be more critical than others due to what he sees as an unfair penalty: “I appreciate the FIA and race direction’s willingness to discuss it. They probably realized it’s becoming a problem and want to open a discussion to find solutions for the future.”
Albon cites Las Vegas inconsistencies
The former Red Bull driver came prepared to the press conference, anticipating the evening discussion, and cited examples of inconsistent decisions by race stewards in Las Vegas. “At the start, Liam (Lawson) hit Oscar (Piastri) while locking up, but he was lucky there was only one car nearby. Gabriel started further back and did well, but was blocked by other cars; he lost control but ended up in an incident and will likely get a penalty here in Qatar, despite doing something similar to Lawson. I don’t think there’s consistency even in cause-and-effect. I got a 5-second penalty for contact with Hamilton in a race: I broke the front wing, he may have lost maybe three tenths overall.”
Alex Albon also highlighted the need for clearer rules on the start, noting a significant disparity: “At the start there’s quite a lot of tolerance unless there’s a major incident.”
He is not the first, and likely won’t be the last, driver to complain about over-regulation, which has fueled controversy this season. “It’s impossible to have strict rules on everything: car position relative to another, who has the right of line in a corner, how much you can push off track, how much space to leave. It’s like having a rule for every corner, but in my mind, that’s not really racing.”
Alex Albon explains that so many rules often create confusion because they overlap or cover gray areas, leaving interpretation subject to context and timing. “We grew up in karting, then F4, F3, and F2. As drivers, we know what’s clean, what’s dirty, and what’s on the limit, at least in my view.” He recalls that in the past there were fewer rules and fewer question marks: “Charlie would give his view of the incident, everyone would say okay, and we’d move on. It worked more or less like that, I think. And I wish we’d follow that path. Want to make a risky move? Aggressive? Dirty? Fine, it’s up to you to take the risk of that maneuver.”
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