Alexander Albon Screams on the Radio After Losing a Shot at Maiden Podium

Published 11/18/2019, 3:49 AM EST

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It was a mixed day in the office for the Red Bull Racing team, with Max Verstappen winning in Brazil. The bad news was that the Austrian team missed a golden opportunity for a double podium. After the Ferrari drivers practically gift-wrapped the podium, an over-opportunistic move from Lewis Hamilton robbed Alexander Albon.

Hearing the anguish in the Thai driver’s voice over the radio was truly heart-breaking. Of course, nobody could blame him for swearing on the radio after finishing 14th.

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Fortunately, Lewis Hamilton got his just desserts and was handed a 5-second time penalty. This in turn promoted a delighted Carlos Sainz to a maiden podium and McLaren’s first since 2014.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, and after calming down a little, the Red Bull driver said, “I feel we came out of Turn 9 and I had some gap to Lewis. We were okay where we were, I felt like I’ll go in a little bit hot and cover him off and make sure he doesn’t get any ideas.”

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“Of course, you see the cut in, but once you dive in there’s a blind spot and you don’t know how far alongside you, he is. I thought that he is far back enough, I’ll give him some space, but I didn’t expect it really. It was a shame, but I think he would have overtook me anyway.”

Alexander Albon noted that Hamilton had fresh tyres and was looking ‘racy’ on the track. He also said that he will not dwell on the lost podium, but try and take away the positives. The Thai driver also admitted that the battle with the Ferraris was fun, but the podium on Sunday wasn’t meant to be. So, he will be looking forward to the next race in Abu Dhabi later this year.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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