Williams driver Alexander Albon admits to making a mistake after his crash in Baku, even though his car had a good chance of finishing in the top 10.
Williams driver Alexander Albon blames himself for the crash in Formula 1 qualifying for the 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku: “There are no excuses—it was a rookie mistake, just a bit amateurish,” Albon told Sky.
He had to park his Williams FW47 after just a few minutes in the first qualifying segment at the exit of the first corner with front left suspension damage after hitting the left front wheel in the first corner.
“On my first attempt, I was the first on the track and therefore also the first car through turn 1 – and I had no grip at all. When I came back a lap later, there was suddenly a lot of grip.” That threw Albon off balance.
He explains: “I expected the car to push a little at the front. Normally, it understeers slightly and you slide along the wall a bit. I had kind of planned for that. But this time, it didn’t understeer.“ His turn-in was therefore ”clumsy“ and the accident ‘frustrating’ because it was a ”stupid mistake,“ according to Albon. ”I can’t blame anyone else but myself. And it’s a shame because we were really fast all weekend. We could have made it into the top 10 in qualifying. That’s why I wish I had a button to restart qualifying.”
20th place on the grid – or starting from the pit lane
At least Albon’s Williams doesn’t seem to be too badly damaged. “Basically, only the suspension is broken, as well as the rim. But that’s easy to repair by tomorrow,” says Albon. “The real penalty is the starting position.”
Without a time in qualifying, Albon will automatically be at the back of the grid – or in the pit lane if he wants to make any changes to the car. “The problem is, my car is great,” says Albon. “I don’t need a different setup. So if we start from the pit lane, it’s only because of the downforce. So we’ll see.”
How difficult it will be to catch up
We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the Grand Prix. Although overtaking is theoretically possible in Baku, it is difficult to do in practice, as Albon discovered on Friday in the second free practice session: “I really had problems overtaking the cars in front of me, even though we were significantly faster.”
“But as soon as I got close enough, I started to stall and my tires overheated. That was especially the case in the second sector. Then it becomes difficult to stay close enough in the third sector to attempt an overtaking maneuver. But if there’s a headwind at Turn 1, it could work.“
Albon says he can probably expect the most help from the weather. ”I may have put us at a disadvantage, but we’re still looking for our chance.”