Alex Albon issues Williams communication plea: 'We dug our own grave'

Alex Albon has called on Williams to improve its communication after revealing that changes were made to his car during qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix without his knowledge.

Both Albon and Carlos Sainz were eliminated in the first part of qualifying at the Red Bull Ring, with the former having to settle for 18th on the grid.

It resulted in a difficult afternoon for the Thai-British driver, who gained just one position and brought his car home in 17th.

Overtaking proved highly difficult in the absence of DRS; however, Albon believes it was what happened in qualifying that cost Williams, insisting the team "dug our own grave".

He revealed that he had not been informed about the changes made to his car in the final minutes of Q1 and called for improvements in communication.

Asked about things not looking right on his last qualifying run, Albon told select media, including RacingNews365: "Yeah, we made some tweaks to the car between Q1 runs two and three that I was unaware of. 

"I think, yeah, we could have done better, maybe just in communicating what changes were made to the car. We dug our own grave on that one."

Asked to clarify whether he was unaware of the changes, Albon replied: "Yes. But that's okay, that happens."

The race itself was also a frustrating affair for Albon in what were the hottest conditions of the season so far.

It was declared a 'heat hazard' by the FIA, allowing cooling vests to be worn; however, even that proved difficult due to another Williams issue.

Discussing if he wore a cooling vest, Albon said: "I did, yes. But we have an issue with our seat. A cooling vest requires a cool seat to be used, otherwise it turns into a heating vest," he joked.