Alex Albon Reacts to 'Frustrating' Qualifying Session in Jeddah

Williams driver Alex Albon was eliminated in Q2 after showing much more speed throughout the weekend, and is set to start just outside of the points at P11.

Albon will start behind his teammate Carlos Sainz for the second time this season after displaying top-ten pace throughout all the practice sessions. The Thai driver appeared confused about what caused the disappointing qualifying result.

"I think I was slowest in sector 3 on my last lap in Q2 because we didn't have a tow, so we need to review that because we didn't really need to [be] too confident in our own pace to get into Q3," Albon said after the session.

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" I don't know, it's frustrating because there's obviously two weekends in a row where it feels like we should be in the points, we should be in the top ten of Q3s quite confidently, but we've missed it for whatever reason."

Albon had one of the closest calls in qualifying when he touched the wall with significant impact during Q1; however, according to Albon, his car did not sustain any damage.

smiling and not responding to “what was the logic for that” oh he’s calling them bums pic.twitter.com/eJ2JxQ3kzs
— alex albon’s pr manager 🇸🇦🇸🇦 (@leclercize) April 19, 2025

"We had front wing end plate damage, but nothing on the body, on the floor, so we missed that and honestly, I was really happy for my lap, just when I look at the data and see how slow I am on the straights, then I know where the lap was," Albon said.

So far in 2025, qualifying has played a significant role in scoring points, given the difficulties drivers have faced in overtaking due to the cars and the impact of dirty air.

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The field is also much tighter, adding more importance to where the car starts at the beginning of the race to gain every possible edge.

The track in Jeddah has more overtaking opportunities that could allow Albon to make up some spots, but he still left qualifying with a bad taste in his mouth.

Alex Albon P11 pic.twitter.com/4TvA1CNFad
— atlan 🇳🇿 (@GH0STLAN) April 19, 2025

"Yeah, I mean, honestly, not that happy, I feel like I've got used to it [Q3] too quickly, so, we should have been in Q3 every session so far and we missed out on all the last two," Albon said.

"I think, as a team, you never know when you have the car to be in the top ten, I think in the midfield, it's just one team away from one upgrade that stops you from scoring points, you always want to be in the moment, maximizing everything."

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"It's when you're outside of the points, or when the car's not quick enough for the top ten, you feel like you can take risks, let's say, but we have the car to score any points every weekend when you're not there, it's more frustrating."

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