Grand Prix
Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: As we expected, this was a fascinating and tough race. All cars were managing to some degree, and we were able to run at good pace with only minor management required. Both drivers pushed hard throughout, and each executed their own strategy very well, managing long stints on the tyres.
Unfortunately, we had to retire Logan on the final lap. We had been nursing a fuel pump issue for much of the race but on the final lap we were unable to scavenge the fuel from the tank to the fuel rail and so to avoid damaging the PU, we retired his car. This was a real shame for Logan as he had raced really well and got himself into a strong position. Overall, he backed-up his race in Austin with another excellent and attacking drive today.
Alex too drove very well and maximised everything from the car. With perfect hindsight, we’d have stayed out under the Safety Car and waited for the red flag, however, the opportunity to get a cheap pit stop and guarantee track position over most of our rivals was too good to miss. Fortunately, Alex had an excellent launch at the restart and immediately got himself into a points scoring position.
It has been an interesting and topsy-turvy weekend. We didn’t expect to be strong here and at times we surprised ourselves. After a difficult Qualifying session, we raced extremely well with the whole team coming together brilliantly to deliver two strong race cars. We limited the damage in the Championship fight and now we turn our attention to Brazil and the final Sprint event of the 2023 season.
Alex Albon: It was a great race, which surprised me, as we didn’t have that much race pace. The track was a little bit too hot for us so required a lot of tyre management, which I expected. We had very good starts where we gained some good positions and also had a good strategy, but the red flag ruined that a little bit, so we had to reset before the restart. We made up the places lost during the Safety Car, and I think regardless of Qualifying yesterday, P9 was the best result we could’ve done today, so I’m happy.
Logan Sargeant: It was another strong Sunday from my side. The pace was once again good, and I had some good moves. I had a poor second restart which cost me from being in the top 10. However, we were managing an issue throughout the race and came up one lap short from a reliability standpoint. We had a fuel pump issue that meant we had to retire. We had the correct amount of fuel in the car but couldn’t get the fuel into the engine. We did our best to manage it and the team helped guide me through it. Disappointing to not finish after giving everything I had after 71 laps but there are plenty of positives to takeaway and I’m happy with myself.
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