Albon makes qualifying ADMISSION to Russell after sparkling performance

Alex Albon has revealed to George Russell that he felt like his Williams team had the better of Mercedes during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.

Albon managed to put in yet another brilliant performance to put his Williams car in sixth, whilst Russell pulled a lap together right at the end to put his Mercedes on the second row in fourth.

Both outperformed their team-mates, with Russell's seven-time world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton down in eighth, and Logan Sargeant down in 15th in the other Williams car.

READ MORE: Verstappen 'happy to be second' after losing out on pole to Sainz at Monza

Speaking to the Sky Sports F1 crew after qualifying, with Russell alongside him, Albon said, "I actually thought we had you. In Q1 and Q2, I was like ‘we’ve got the Mercedes in our pocket.’ Then you pulled it out the bag for Q3.

"I always went for the tow and I complained when I didn’t. Basically, for me, similar to George. If you nail it, it’s quicker. In my Q3 run one lap, I towed a McLaren and I was quicker than the McLaren. By sector three I was a bit too close to it, had a bit of understeer. Then I started, for the next one I was following Checo and just changing cars, they have different speeds."

Monza set for an exciting Sunday

With Carlos Sainz pipping world championship leader Max Verstappen to pole position, and the other Ferrari in Charles Leclerc also performing well in front of the team's home fans by qualifying third, raceday is sure to be exciting at the Italian GP.

Verstappen is chasing a record tenth consecutive Formula 1 victory, whilst both Ferraris will hope to give their fans something to smile about after a poor season so far.

Mercedes will be looking to get Russell and Hamilton into the mix for a podium finish, whilst Williams will be hoping that Albon's brilliant qualifying performance will yield them some points come Sunday.

Monza has been known in recent years to bring surprise results, not least when Pierre Gasly remarkably won in 2020 with the AlphaTauri team, or when Daniel Ricciardo led home a McLaren 1-2 in 2021.

Albon will be hoping for something similar to get himself onto the iconic podium in the Williams.

READ MORE: Why does Monza often throw up SURPRISE results and will we see one in 2023?