Engine voltage issue prevented Albon from pitting

British Grand Prix – Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon wasn’t able to make a pitstop during the second half of Sunday’s race at Silverstone.

Having started from inside the top ten, Alex Albon came home a relatively disappointed P12 in Sunday’s F1 British GP at Silverstone.

This was due to a voltage problem with his Honda power unit that meant he was unable to make a pitstop on safety grounds.

Having already made his pitstop to change to the Medium tyres when the Safety Car was deployed on Lap 19, Albon’s strategy was stymied by the closing up of the field. His problems were then made worse by having to run the Medium tyre right through until the end of the race – a total of 39 laps on that compound. This was because a power unit electrical issue on the Honda powering him around prevented him from pitting on what Honda explained were safety grounds.

Unfortunately, Alex dropped out of the points in the closing stages, as he was unable to make the second tyre stop that he needed.” explained Honda’s Toyoharu Tanabe. “This was PU-related, as the data showed a high voltage issue, so we told the team it was inadvisable to make a second stop on safety grounds. Of course, we will now analyse this issue very carefully.”

Albon, having consistently run in the top ten throughout Silverstone’s practice and qualifying sessions, bemoaned his bad luck but accepted that that’s the nature of the game: “It wasn’t an easy race for me managing the tyres. When the safety car came out some drivers got lucky, others didn’t. We had an issue with the car where we couldn’t pit or touch the car, so we had to stay out while others around us pitted. It was a frustrating race, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”