Alex Albon converted his top-10 start into a points finish for Williams in the Japanese Grand Prix, despite hitting problems during the race.
Having started ninth on the grid, Albon maintained position in the Williams but grew frustrated with his team when they made a mistake on strategy.
Speaking to his Williams engineer James Urwin, Albon could be heard just before his first pit stop fuming over team radio: “You guys make no sense. Ridiculous.”
BBC analyst and racing driver Alice Powell noted that Albon was driving in ‘anger’ based on his radio messages to the team in the early stages of the race.
“Driving in anger potentially is Alex Albon who’s not particularly happy with the decisions and with the team during this race and the gear sync shift,” said Powell.
Unheard team radio appears to uncover the reason why Albon was not happy with Williams, despite managing to finish in the points for Williams.
Alex Albon frustrated with gearbox issue
The first messages from Albon came just a few laps into the race when it appeared he was unhappy with the gear shifts in his Williams.
Drivers must go through the gears in order to ‘sync’ them on the formation lap, but it sounds like the issue arose after that procedure took place.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Albon: “These [gear] shifts are so bad. What have we done to them? It’s been s— at the start, it’s been s—- now.” | |
| Urwin: “OK, a bit more specific as to where it is.” | |
| Albon: “The same, the same I’ve been talking about all this time.” |
The issue did not become a problem for most of the race, but it did happen within a couple of laps of race leader Max Verstappen having the same problem.
Albon would go on to take issue with his teams strategy call later on in the race, which put him at risk of losing a position to Oliver Bearman.
Alex Albon’s angry team radio messages after Williams pit stop
Albon was told earlier in the race to extend his first stint in a bid to catch up to Isack Hadjar, who was the only driver in the top 10 to lose a place after Lewis Hamilton overtook him six laps into the race.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Urwin: “Tyres are stable from our side. Update on a switch when you can.” | |
| Urwin: “Go to plan A, up to plus five.” | |
| Albon: “I don’t know what you guys are seeing, but it’s oversteer.” |
After growing frustrated that Williams left him out while the tyres were losing him time, Albon voiced his anger over team radio.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Albon: “Honestly, you guys make absolutely no sense.” | |
| Urwin: “Okay.” | |
| Albon: “Like, ridiculous.” | |
| Urwin: “Bearman has pitted.” | |
| Albon: “Yeah, but… pit before then!” | |
| Urwin: “Trust me, it was worse before.” |
Williams was right not to use the undercut to pass Bearman, given how it was not as powerful due to the tyre offset and could’ve left them exposed to Fernando Alonso.
When Albon emerged out of the pits in traffic, he was unhappy with the timing of the stop.
| Driver | Engineer |
| Urwin: “OK, straight out. Watch the white line on exit.” | |
| Albon: “Guys, you could have told me about this for a moment.” |
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