Albon grid penalty shifts focus for Belgian GP
Albon grid penalty shifts focus for Belgian GP
Alexander Albon says the grid penalty he will receive for the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend will allow him to turn his focus towards pace, rather than striving for a result in his first race back with Red Bull.
During the summer break it was announced that Pierre Gasly would be being demoted to Toro Rosso, with Albon going in the other direction to Red Bull, after the Frenchman endured a torrid first half of the season.
The Thai-British driver’s first race comes at Spa, but not in ideal circumstances as he will receive a 10-place grid penalty for a new engine, putting him out of qualifying.
"As usual, we have focused on improving both reliability and performance, in the hope of achieving even better results with both teams in this part of the season," said Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe.
"Our plan is that only Albon and [Daniil] Kvyat will run it at Spa, for strategic reasons, looking at the rest of the season as a whole."
Honda are in charge of the engines for both Red Bull and Toro Rosso, and were not keen on introducing the upgrade for all four drivers at the same time, thus incurring four penalties.
Instead, Max Verstappen and Gasly will receive theirs in Italy, while Kvyat and Albon will get theirs at Spa.
Although Albon would have liked to start his new career with Red Bull under normal conditions, he is confident he can gain some knowledge and understanding of the car, which would have been harder if he was fighting at the front.
"We'll just go into the weekend more focused on race pace, which means more laps," he said at the drivers’ press conference on Thursday.
"I still would have liked to have given it a go and see how I could have done in qualifying and try and start further up than I will be."
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
F1 team announce SHOCK signing weeks after rival departure
- 3 minutes ago
Former team boss quizzed on role in Newey's Red Bull exit
- 1 hour ago
RB reveal STRIKING new livery ahead of Miami GP
- 2 hours ago
EXCLUSIVE: Insider claims F1 Academy and W Series couldn't co-exist
- 3 hours ago
Wolff delivers big verdict on Hamilton behaviour
- Today 18:57
Red Bull partner reveals HUGE F1 2026 entry details
- Today 17:57
Related news
F1 star calls for penalty REVIEW after lashing out at 'unfair' system
F1 star reveals 'chats' around long-term future amid Mercedes and Red Bull links
Legendary F1 circuit could be ditched due to spiralling costs
Top F1 pundit earmarks EMERGING star for huge move to rival team
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860