Hamilton's high "downforce worked in" Williams' favour, claims Albon

On the back of a strong qualifying performance on Satuday, Alexander Albon was able to finish sixth at the Belgian Grand Prix, fending off the attacks from Ferrari's seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Having qualified in P5 on Saturday, Williams driver Alex Albon delivered a masterful performance to score some big points for Williams at Spa-Francorchamps.

Although the Thai driver lost a place to Mercedes driver George Russell, he was able to keep the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton at bay. The seven-time world champion came from the back of the field, and put Albon under huge pressue, but his high-downforce package meant that he was not able to pick the Williams driver off.

His team-mate Carlos Sainz started from the pit lane, but he was unable to recover to the points, ending the weekend with disappointment after having delivered a strong performance in the sprint race.

Speaking of his race, Albon noted: "I’m really happy; we’re top of the midfield so that’s always nice and I managed to hold off Lewis, which is never easy.

"I struggled a little bit in the rain, which is to be expected, so I lost that position to George early on but after that, we settled in and were able to maintain position and finish strong.

"It was important to not make mistakes with Lewis behind, but I think his downforce worked in our favour. As a team we did a great job as it’s not easy beating those top teams, so it’s good to see our package is working well."

Explaining his difficulties in the 44-lap Spa race, Sainz stated: "Following a costly set-up change yesterday before Qualifying, our starting position meant we had little to lose, so we took a gamble to start from the pit lane, changing the car to a wet configuration.

"Unfortunately, with the Red Flag during the worst of the weather, the race was dry, and it clearly didn’t work in our favour. We also had an issue with my pit stop, so it was a bit of a disappointing race all together.

"However, on the positive side, the Sprint was very strong and today the new package worked well on Alex’s car, so I look forward to next week."