Albon makes bold claim over F1 driver safety issues

Alexander Albon believes F1 drivers would race in similar excruciating conditions as faced at the Qatar Grand Prix due to their “inherent competitiveness”.

Extreme conditions created by high heat and humidity at the Lusail International Circuit, combined with the challenging circuit layout and shorter stints due to safety mandates introduced by the FIA following Pirelli tyre analysis led to safety scares at the event.

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon threw up inside his helmet, Lance Stroll revealed he almost passed out behind the wheel through high-speed corners and Logan Sargeant withdrew himself due to dehydration.

The FIA announced after the Grand Prix that it was conducting an analysis to “provide recommendations for future situations of extreme weather”.

Speaking to media including RacingNews365.com, Albon, who himself sought medical attention having struggled to climb from his car post-race, highlighted the importance of control being taken out of the drivers' hands.

“There's a reason why even in these kind of countries - I know especially in Thailand - they have set working hours that you can actually work in those conditions,” he said.

“There's a reason for that. It is a tough one because of course there are limits.

“If you saw me after on Sunday, you could see what state I was in.”

Up to FIA and F1 to manage

Despite his illness during the race, Alpine's Ocon declared “you would have to kill me” before forcing him to retire from the event.

Albon asserted that it is in a driver's nature to deal with any conditions in pursuit of success.

“You can call me a warrior for doing the whole race but we are drivers at the end of the day,” he said.

“We will always push ourselves to the extreme. We would do that race again, for sure but that's just because of our inherent competitiveness, we're not going to ever retire or stop because it's just who we are.

“It's up to, in some ways, the FIA and F1 to just manage us a little bit more, looking after us and making sure that we don't have these issues happen again.”