Albon takes new chassis for Mexico after practice crash

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OCTOBER 25: Alexander Albon of Thailand driving the (23) Aston Martin RedMEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OCTOBER 25: Alexander Albon of Thailand driving the (23) Aston Martin Red Bull Racing RB15 crashes during practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on October 25, 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

It was all hands on deck at Red Bull on Friday afternoon after Alexander Albon crashed early in FP2. And it has emerged the team have opted to change the Thai driver’s chassis ahead of final practice in Mexico…

Albon, in his words, made a “careless mistake” at Turn 7, losing the car and hitting the wall that not only caused significant damage to his RB15 but also robbed him of valuable running on a track that is new to him.

“We missed a good chunk of the long running data, so it won’t be easy,” said Albon. “We’ll have to change the run plan for tomorrow in FP3 and then we’ll have to find a good solution for qualifying.”

Red Bull changed the chassis ahead of Saturday’s running, meaning Albon could head straight out on track at the start of the one-hour session and begin making up for lost time.