Alex Albon reflects on a 'painful' F1 Monaco GP that extended his points advantage over Carlos Sainz to 30

Despite extending his lead over Carlos Sainz in the Drivers’ Championship, Alex Albon said the Monaco GP was a 'painful' race. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, after the race on May 25, the Williams driver said the race was neither enjoyable to drive nor to watch.

Although Albon finished ninth and his teammate 10th, the Thai-born driver felt the race was largely processional. The duo has now accumulated a total of 30 points this season, but managed to collect only three points between them in Monaco.

According to Alex Albon, the Racing Bulls drivers began backing up the field early on, creating a DRS train that left those behind with no overtaking opportunities. Liam Lawson, running in eighth, helped defend sixth place for his teammate Isack Hadjar by strategically controlling the pace.

Albon felt the only way to counter them was to replicate the strategy. He said such tactics were expected, given Monaco’s layout and the current generation of cars, which offer limited opportunities for overtaking.

Asked by Sportskeeda to describe his race in Monaco, Alex Albon said:

“Painful. I think, [its] not how I want to go racing and I don't think enjoyable for anyone watching as well. We knew it was a possibility. We knew this strategy could happen. I think we were talking about it on Thursdays. We didn't want it to happen and I think on our side we it wasn't how we were going to go racing."

He added:

"Once RB [Racing Bulls] started, it basically put us in a position where we had to do it as well. It bunch the field up so tightly, the only way to get out of that situation was to basically repeat what they did and yeah not pretty and frustrating. But you know in the end it's a team sport and we maximise three points with it.”

After the Monaco GP, Alex Albon leads Carlos Sainz by 30 points in the drivers’ championship, having scored 42 points so far, while his teammate has contributed 12.

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Alex Albon believes the mandatory two-stop was worth a try, but lacked results

Alex Albon felt the mandatory two-stop rule for pit stops in Monaco was worth trying to make racing more exciting. However, he believes tactics like backing other drivers into a pack were always likely to come into play, regardless of the number of pit stops.

The Williams driver suggested that more effective changes might involve reducing the size of the cars or altering the track layout. He pointed out that defending on the narrow streets of Monaco is relatively effortless while noting that drivers typically need a margin of four to five seconds to attempt an overtake — a gap that is rarely available on the Monte Carlo circuit.

Asked by Sportskeeda if the mandatory two-stop strategy had failed to produce artificial racing, Alex Albon said:

“Well, you give us one stop, we were doing on a one stop, creating this style of racing, we would do it. We would do it on a two stop, we would do it on a three stop, we would do it on a four stop. You give us whatever, I think it was worth a try. I think even if it was as bad as it was, It was a talking point, and it became more of a peloton than a race."

"Realistically, if you really want to change it, I can only see changing some parts of the track, creating a proper overtaking opportunity, or making the cars smaller, which obviously is going to happen next year. But it's just too easy to defend around to it. You need about a four second, five second margin to overtake here and that doesn't happen," he added.

Williams currently sit fifth in the constructors’ standings with a total of 54 points, leading the midfield battle. They are followed by Haas in sixth place with 26 points, and Racing Bulls in seventh with a total of 22 points.