Formula 1 - Formula 1 disaster for Williams: Alex Albon takes refuge in gallows humor

Even before the start of the Formula 1 weekend in Spain, Williams knew: Barcelona is not an easy place. Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz had a tough time adjusting to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Albon qualified in 11th place, but was forced to retire from the race after a collision. He had problems from the very beginning.

"I had a problem with the clutch," the Thai-Brit explained his problems at the start. He lost four positions in the blink of an eye. "That put us in a concertina of cars dodging each other in turn one. And I was the last one to get hit." Triggered by Liam Lawson on the inside, Nico Hülkenberg veered off and ran over Albon's front wing.

Out of necessity, Williams opted for an early pit stop and had to commit to a three-stop strategy. "But an early three-stop strategy. And when you change the front wing, you do a three-stop strategy without an undercut. That's the worst of all. Everyone comes out ahead of you," Albon said, describing his dilemma.

For Albon, the race was almost over after just six laps. But: "Then we met Liam [Lawson; ed.]," the Williams driver almost had to laugh. On lap 24, Lawson attempted to overtake Albon in Turn 1. Albon swerved off the track but still didn't let the Racing Bull pass. Albon received a 10-second penalty for this.

One lap later, Lawson pulled off a clean overtaking maneuver at the same spot. Albon misjudged the corner and damaged his second front wing on the Red Bull junior's rear wheel. "At that point, my tires were gone. And so were my front wings," Albon added wryly.

"Most of the contact was on my side. The car was badly damaged," Albon explained his retirement on lap 28. The 29-year-old doesn't remember much positive from Spain . "Put everything [bad luck; ed.] into one race, then we'll have it behind us and can move on to Canada."

Teammate Carlos Sainz was also not blessed with luck in Barcelona. Like his teammate, he suffered an early setback. "We had front wing damage on lap 1. That's why we had a slow pit stop. Then we had an overheating engine for most of the race," Sainz said, listing his complaints. He summed up the Williams weekend in Spain succinctly: "Nothing went our way."

Max Verstappen caused the excitement of the Spanish race when he rammed George Russell in the closing stages. Was this intentional by the Dutchman? Christian explains the background from Barcelona: