'Everyone just seemed to crash' – Albon thrilled with P5 in Dutch Grand Prix after 'a little bit of luck'

Alex Albon was left thrilled to come away with fifth place in the Dutch Grand Prix, having benefitted from incidents ahead and a stunning first lap.

The Williams driver could only start P15 for last Sunday's race at the Zandvoort Circuit, and around a track where overtaking has proved difficult, he expected a hard task to score points.

But a stunning opening lap meant Albon moved up five places, before he was able to benefit from a number of incidents ahead to match his best finish of the season.

"We had a really good launch, made a position off the line and then made two more positions into Turn 1, two more into Turn 3 and then we were immediately in the race," said Albon.

"I think looking at strategy, it was always going to look like a one-stop and a pretty boring race but we had the start to put us into good contention for a points finish.

"It just seemed like, summer break happened and everyone got a little bit excited on the first race back. On my side, I had good pace and I was happy to stay where I was, I was happy in terms of the feeling with the car but then everyone just seemed to crash so we ended up P5!

"There's a little bit of luck in there but there's also good pace and we put ourselves in a position to score P5. We weren't one of the ones that benefitted from the Safety Car, we actually benefitted purely on race pace as well. I'm very happy."

The result proved vital for Williams' hopes of securing fifth in the Teams' Championship, with Aston Martin and Racing Bulls only 18 and 20 points behind respectively.

Albon is now optimistic that Monza this weekend will prove a happy hunting ground for himself and Williams team mate Carlos Sainz.

"It could have easily happened where we lost big points this weekend if we didn't get the P5 today; with Isack [Hadjar] scoring P3, it would have been looking a lot more doom and gloom," added Albon.

"Very important for us in the Constructors' side. We're going into Monza now which is historically a good track for us. Let's keep this train going."