Alex Albon

Vowles claims Albon made Monza points finish 'look easy'

Albon steered his Williams home in P7 at the Italian Grand Prix and his boss was delighted

Dan Davis

Tuesday 5 September 2023 11:27 Updated: 12:15

James Vowles has lavished praise on Alex Albon after the Williams driver clinched seventh place at the Italian Grand Prix courtesy of a superb drive.

The impressive finish matched his best with the team to date and stemmed from the FW45's superior straight-line speed, handing him the edge over McLaren.

Albon was able to fend off multiple charges from Lando Norris heading into Turn 1 and utilised his rapid race pace to remain in front down the straights.

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Lewis Hamilton may have ultimately passed him to pip him to sixth, but Albon recovered in defiant fashion to steer himself home to another points finish.

Razor elbows

Vowles was impressed with Albon's willingness to scrap in the midfield

Post-race at Monza, Vowles spoke effusively of his display.

"Just incredible," he told Sky Sports F1. "We sort of make it look easy, at least Alex does anyway. I think Alex did a sterling job with it.

"You can see that across Montreal, Silverstone and here, we don't quite have that race pace, but we have a driver out there that can get his elbows out and just fight for those last points. That's what he did today.

"He did a sterling job, again not a foot wrong on that. Seventh I think is really just reward. The car pace was slightly behind where he did, he shone relative to that."

Albon currently sits 13th in the drivers' standings with 21 points, having also finished in the top 10 in Bahrain, Canada, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

Williams, meanwhile, are seventh in the constructors' championship.