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Albon admits he is still getting used to F1 after messy Friday practice

Albon admits he is still getting used to F1 after messy Friday practice

15-03-2019 11:50
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Jake Williams-Smith

F1 rookie and Toro Rosso driver Alexander Albon has admitted he is still getting used to driving a Formula 1 car after several spins during Friday practice.

The Anglo-Thai driver had not driven an F1 car prior to winter testing and his inexperience began to creep into his driving throughout Friday practice in Melbourne.

He finished 13th and 17th in FP1 and FP2 respectively but was the first driver this season to crash his car, spinning on the exit of turn two in first practice bringing out the red flags.

Although he escaped major damage to his STR14, Albon admitted that he was still getting to grips with the car and the high intensity of a Formula 1 race weekend.

“I’m still getting used to the timetable of an F1 weekend as well as to the car and the track," he said.

"This circuit isn’t easy, but I think our pace looks good so far and I’m slowly building up confidence. I took it a bit easier after the spin in FP1 and once I got back up to speed we went on with the programme, trying a few more things on the car.

"Timesheet apart, we’re looking pretty strong in a very tight midfield and now it’s up to us to do our homework tonight to improve tomorrow.”

Albon's teammate, Daniil Kvyat enjoyed a much more trouble-free day, finishing 7th and 11th in first and second practices respectively.

“Both free practice sessions today went well, we managed to run through our programmes and complete quite a few laps, which is important around this circuit," the Russian summarised.

The car felt good, I think we maximised our time on track and we just need to look into what we want to change overnight. I think there are still steps we can make to improve the car for tomorrow, so we’ll try to work on that tonight.”