Alex Albon has said that the issue is visibility, not the wet weather, in response to claims that drivers are ‘weak’ or ‘cowardly’ when it comes to racing in the rain. The race management by the governing body came under the spotlight because of how conservative the race director was.
A pre-race shower meant that the start of the race was delayed by almost an hour, during which another shower came and passed by. To make matters worse, when the race first began, it was under rolling start conditions after 4 laps behind the safety car, even though after the first lap, it was clear that the track was dry enough.
While the race director was one of the key personnel who faced backlash for the way he handled the race, F1 drivers, including Alex Albon, came under fire, as quite a few of them were vocal about the poor visibility during the formation lap.
Alex Albon addressed what appears to be an awkward debate where drivers have to voice their opinion on whether the conditions are good enough to race. The driver revealed that racing in the wet was never a problem, and in that sense, the tires are fine as well. Instead, the problem is with the visibility, the lack of which makes it dangerous. He told the media, including Sportskeeda:
“Unfortunately, we’re the only ones that can truly tell you what this is. So I think the drivers are actually put in a bit of an awkward position in that sense because we look weak.”
He added:
“We look like the ones that are complaining and that we should just get on with it. Whereas I think a good example would have been Isack [Hadjar] and Kimi [Antonelli] in Silverstone. It’s the worst feeling driving at 250 kilometres an hour and not being able to see 20 metres in front of you.”
Alex Albon emphasizes the current regulations
Alex Albon felt that while there are things that can surely be done, the problem is with the current regulations. The ground effect era has the cars producing much more spray, which leads to a lack of visibility. He said:
“I think we’ve tried – it’s not an issue that we haven’t left neglected. I do think these generation of cars are the biggest reason why – I hope next year at least a lot of that will go away.”
He added:
“ I think the people who are most vocal about not driving are the drivers. We are vocal when we think it’s ready to go and when we think it was time. But at the moment, the full Wet tyre and the conditions of the tracks don’t align. The tracks are too wet. It’s not the tyres that are not good enough, it’s just that we can’t see.”
Alex Albon was not the only driver who complained about the conditions during the very first start, as he was accompanied by most drivers, including George Russell, Oscar Piastri, and Lando Norris.
alt=”Charanjot Singh Kohli” height=”72″ width=”72″>
Edited by Charanjot Singh Kohli
