Albon laments ‘silly mistake’ in FP2, aims to rebuild confidence

Red Bull’s Alex Albon owned up to the “silly mistake” that put a premature end to his FP2 session at the Mexican Grand Prix on Friday.

Albon positioned his car too far to the right on the entry to Turn 7 and lost control, his RB15 sliding into the barrier on the exit and severely damaging its right-hand front corner.

The mishap deprived the British-Thai racer of valuable track time, a setback for the 23-year-old who is racing in Mexico City for the very first time.

“I just went a bit wide on the kerbs and lost the rear,” he explained. “Once these cars snap, they snap quickly and that was that. It was a silly mistake and I paid the price.

Mexican GP: Friday’s action in pictures

“We missed a good chunk of long-running data as well, so it won’t be easy. I think we’ll have to change the run plan for tomorrow in FP3, and then try and find a good solution for qualifying.

“FP3 will be about rebuilding confidence and getting back into a rhythm but the conditions might be different with rain which could make things interesting.”

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Although Friday’s sessions were held on a dry track, conditions already appeared tricky, with drivers struggling for grip at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

“It’s not too bad. It’s more the downforce here, just with the high downforce but with the light air, the skinny air, it makes it tricky,” Albon said.

“But it’s just one of them things. I think everyone was going off and making mistakes, but obviously I did the biggest one.”

Albon was nevertheless encouraged by Max Verstappen’s runner-up performance in FP2

“Max showed the car is quite quick, especially in the race run. It’s not too difficult,” he added.

“It’s more just me getting back the rhythm in FP3, and then building on it for qualifying. So, yeah, it’s not the end of the world, but we obviously made it difficult for ourselves.”