Alexander Albon, Red Bull, Silverstone, 2020

“I thought I caught it” – Albon puzzled by crash

2020 British Grand Prix

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Alexander Albon said he needs to look more closely at the data from his crash during the second practice session at Silverstone.

However he said he was encouraged by Red Bull’s pace on the opening day of practice for the British Grand Prix.

Albon said he’ll “have to have a look at” his Stowe corner crash, which left his RB16 which damage to the rear and front-left.

“The rear went quite quickly and I struggled to correctly. I thought I had it but then obviously you get the tank-slapper as well. We’ll have a look at the data and see.”

Despite the crash he ended the session with the second-fastest time and believes “we’ve definitely made a step as a team.

“The car feels good. I think we expected worse, to be honest, coming into Friday. But the car was hooked up straight away the first time we drove it in FP1. So it’s looking good.

“I’m sure the Mercs are hiding quite a lot so we’ll watch them tomorrow. But otherwise I think as a car it feels well-balanced.

Albon’s car was badly damaged in the crash
“Obviously today though the weather and the wind is so much different to what we’re going to get tomorrow, it will be a little bit of a reset.”

Albon believes Red Bull have benefited from learning more about how their car behaves.

“t’s more an understanding on the team side of things, understanding the car a bit better and also adapting your driving style and adapting to the car a bit better.

“Obviously I say that [but] I still put it in the wall. But there are a lot of positives to take from today.”

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2020 F1 season

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11 comments on ““I thought I caught it” – Albon puzzled by crash”

  1. I thought I caught it

    I thought these were Sergio’s words :D

  2. It has been suggested that putting on opposite-lock to catch an incipient backend breakaway leads to a loss of underbody downforce which makes the slide uncatchable (the angle of the front wheels disrupts the airflow and wrecks the vortices sealing off the floor edges). It is surmised that it is this effect that makes the Red Bull so erratically twitchy.

  3. There needs to be something in front of the armco barrier to help absorb some the G-forces when a car hits the barrier, e.g. plastic crash barriers. I’m sure this issue was brought up in the FIA’s report about the death of Anthoine Hubert.

    1. That corner has tyre barriers but they end before the spot Albon hit. I’m sure they’ll be looking at this, don’t worry

  4. Rui (@colinmcrui)
    31st July 2020, 23:32

    While that makes a lot of sense, I don’t think it was the issue with Hubert’s crash, maybe it would have a different outcome since more energy would have been absorbed in the crash, but ultimately the defect in protection was related to the drivers cage and the angle it was hit by the fast moving Correa’s car.

    1. @colinmcrui I agree that this wasn’t a case where a car was going to “bounce” back onto the track, which is what happened in Herbert’s case, but part of the problem in his case related to inadequate means of reducing the energy in a car that is travelling out of control before it hit the barrier and bounced back. More energy absorption could have made a big difference. In Albon’s case he appears to have been winded after his car slid into the armco barrier, so he absorbed the energy, not the barrier. Better energy absorption could have meant less susceptibility of injury by drivers.

      1. @drycrust Herbert or Hubert?

        In Hubert’s crash he was still in the run off area, maybe one meter short of the track, when he was hit by Correa.

        But if you really mean Herbert’s crash then yes, both he and Foitek obviously bounced back all the way into the barriers on the other side of the track.

        In any case, I agree with you that more energy absorption is desirable but so is reducing deceleration which “bounces” can help in some occasions. I think in a grade one circuit the type of barrier placed in each location is chosen according to the type of crash expected in that area. They can be wrong of course and there is always room for improvement but that is not necessary the case here.

        1. Herbert or Hubert?

          Most sincere apologies, I was referring to Anthoine Hubert. Thank you for correcting me.

  5. F1 needs tyres that can slide and recover from some slip angles. The tank slappers of Bikes should not exist.

  6. Albon visibly shaking after the incident while trying to remove the steering wheel really made me feel for him. I hope his confidence doesn’t take a hit.

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