Albon relieved to enjoy penalty-free weekend at Silverstone

Alex Albon heads to Silverstone without any grid penalties to contend with, and the Toro Rosso charger hopes improvements from Austria will allow him to battle in the thick of F1's midfield.

The last three rounds of the F1 world championship yielded only meager results for the British-Thai racer, his efforts in Austria pretty much undermined from the outset by his lowly spot on the grid in Spielberg.

"We had a tough time at the last two rounds and in Austria, we tackled practice in a slightly different way, as we knew I’d be starting from the back of the grid because of the PU change penalties," Albon said.

"We tried to understand the car a bit better as it had not worked the way we wanted in France.

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"In Austria, we tried to unlock it’s potential, but we had similar issues to Paul Ricard, even if to a lesser extent.

"Coming to the British GP, without penalties on the plan we will be starting the race from the actual qualifying position and, after having analysed lots of data from the last two races, we hope we will be able to battle in the tight midfield successfully."

Next weekend's event will be a home race of sorts for Albon, so the venue will perhaps deliver an extra boost of motivation although the 23-year-old isn't all that well acquainted with the legendary Northamptonshire circuit.

"Silverstone is some sort of a home race, because I’ve spent most of my life in the UK, but I do race as a Thai driver and that’s what I consider myself to be.

"Silverstone is actually one of the tracks I’ve driven on the least. I think I’ve only raced there four times. I really like it and I have good memories of winning the Feature Race there last year in F2.

"Actually, I almost forgot I won the GP3 race there, starting from pole!

"I think every driver loves Silverstone because even if I’ve not actually driven there in an F1 car yet,

"I’m sure it’s the sort of track where these fantastic cars really come to life, making use of all that downforce through the high-speed stuff. Maggotts and Becketts are really cool and I’m sure in an F1 car it’s going to be like a roller coaster.

"The track is only a 25-minute drive from my house in Milton Keynes. Although, actually I will stay in the team hotel, as the traffic should be much easier from there.

"All my family will be there too. It’s a special race and the British fans are crazy about motorsport."

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