Alex Albon quipped that it must have been a “boring” Japanese GP after he was quizzed on his tense Williams radio exchanges.

The Thai racer is usually one of Formula 1’s more easy-going drivers, meaning that his abrupt tone used in some Williams radio exchanges in the race did not go unnoticed.

Alex Albon and Williams all friends again in Suzuka

Albon launched from P9 on the grid, and that was where the Thai racer finished in Japan, at the end of a race which produced limited movement in that top 10.

However, it was not quite such an uneventful run to the chequered flag for Albon as it appeared at first glance.

His frustrations began with gearshifts.

“These shifts are so bad. What have we done to them? It’s been s*** at the start, it’s being s*** now,” he vented.

Asked to be a bit “more specific”, Albon came back snappy with: “Yeah, the same! The same I’ve been talking about all the time.”

Next up, it was the sole round of pit stops at Suzuka which had Albon angsty on the radio with Haas’ Oliver Bearman the driver behind him on the road, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar was up ahead.

“Honestly, you guys make absolutely no sense,” said Albon.

“Like, ridiculous.”

That was met with a simple “OK” from his race engineer James Urwin.

“Yeah, well pit before then!” Albon came back with when told Haas’ Oliver Bearman had made his pit stop.

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Albon was asked about the radio messages after the race, that drawing a smile before he quipped: “Yes… I think it was a boring race, because my radio was clearly a hot topic!

“But, for the most part, it was… We had a few shift setting changes and fixed the issue.

“Honestly, had a good race. I think we were fighting with Isack pretty much, some moments of the race he was quicker than me, other times I was quicker than him.

“Quite a boring race, but I like boring races when we bring in the points!”

And just to rubber-stamp the fact that Albon and his crew were all smiles again after the race, he took to social media to post a group photo from his side of the garage with the caption: “3 for 3 in the points Japan! Another amazing result, big effort Williams Racing.”

Picking up two further points to continue his 100 per cent points-scoring record in F1 2025, Albon is now up to 18 for the season and sits P7 in the Drivers’ Championship, after a weekend where team-mate Carlos Sainz once again struggled.

The Spaniard walked away from Suzuka with still just the one point, and a lighter bank account after the FIA took action over a late arrival for the national anthem.

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