Albon started sixth after reaching Q3 and benefiting from other drivers’ penalties, and found himself clinging to the points positions throughout the race.
Albon came under pressure from Stroll ‘s Aston Martin Racing at the start of the final stint, but the Williams’ impressive top speed allowed him to hold off the Canadian.
As Lance Stroll struggled to find a spot, he was caught up by Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Guanyu Zhou and Daniel Ricciardo, all with DRS from the car directly ahead.
But Albon held on to finish 10th, leaving the train of single-seaters behind him to score his fourth point (and Williams’ fourth) of the 2022 season.
“It was, in my opinion, one of the best races I’ve ever had in Formula 1,” said Alexander Albon.
“I felt like in that last stint I just had to hang in there, I couldn’t make any mistakes, or else they were going to pass us right away.”
“But top speed saved us a bit, and I was glad to see the checkered flag.”
Albon was unfazed by the increasing number of cars appearing in his rear-view mirrors, saying: “The more single-seaters I saw, the better I felt.”
“I said to myself, ‘You know what, there’s a train building, and that’s fine. It means everybody’s got some pressure.’ When it’s just you and the car behind, the other can afford to loosen up and then go after you, do different things”.
“But when there’s a little train, everybody has to go with the speed and they can’t afford to cool the tires or the brakes or whatever.”
“When I saw the train, I thought: ‘Yeah, well, do it!’
Albon also managed to sneak into the points at both the Australian GP and Miami thanks to unconventional strategies, but considered Spa-Francorchamps to have been “almost a pure race” that gives Williams a boost for the future.
“Of course we had a good race in Melbourne, and we had a good race in Miami,” Albon said.
“This time we have followed the same strategy as everyone else, and we have not been able to be as creative because the degradation was very high.”
“So it was one of those things where I felt like maybe it wasn’t my best race, but I felt like considering the pace we had and where we were, getting a point was a really good job.
“It’s great for the team and for everyone, it’s the positivity that we have to carry into the next few races. It gives us a lot of confidence going into events like Monza and those low-downforce circuits.”
“I think we can do a good job,” he concluded.
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