F1 | Albon on Sakhir free practice: “Fun track, but traffic will be a problem”

Satisfying day for Alex Albon on the Outer Circuit, scene of the next Sakhir Grand Prix. Despite some small grip problems during the afternoon's FP2, the Thai driver from Red Bull managed to create a good feeling with the car in the very fast Bahraini layout, an aspect that bodes well for this afternoon's qualifying.

Albon, we remember, finished yesterday's free practice in 5th position, about three tenths away from the best time set by the Mercedes driver, George Russell. Important indications, but which will have to be confirmed in today's and tomorrow's sessions.

“I'm really enjoying this new track,” said Alex Albon. “It is a unique track, parts of which are really challenging. It was fun to shoot and as a team we will have to analyze carefully what worked and what didn't go right. In FP1 I felt I had more grip than in the afternoon session, which is why it will be important to observe the data and set ourselves up as best we can for tomorrow's sessions. In any case, the pace, overall, seemed ok, both in qualifying and race configuration."

“Finding a gap in qualifying will not be easy, given that on the outgoing lap you have to turn slowly to cool the tyres,” the Thai continued. “We will have to go out on track carefully and I think the engineers will be quite busy. As drivers we all have respect for each other, but at the same time we want our tires to be in the best possible window for our laps. So I'm sure that will be an important point of discussion in this evening's briefing."