Albon: Australia FP1 crash result of inexperience, 'too hot' tyres

Albon spun after losing his car on the exit of Turn 1 and hit the barrier on the outside of Turn 2, which knocked the front wing off his Toro Rosso and caused a brief on-track stoppage even though he was able to return to the pits.

Reflecting on the incident, Albon said he had been caught out as he started to push more on his first outing during a grand prix weekend.

"I was just building up my confidence, and was getting a little better," he said. "Then I was caught out by the spin at the end of that run.

"I think it was just a little bit of inexperience and the tyres were a little bit too hot. [It] was a combination of the two.

"But nothing really too serious, and in the end run two in FP1 was quite good.

"Considering it was my first time here, I was quite happy with how it went. But that did mean going into FP2 a bit more steady and just building up the rhythm."

Albon experienced another drama later on when a problem with his headrest forced him to abort a lap.

"It was a weird one and I've never had it happen before," he said.

"I was going through Turn 11, and as I was going into 12 I couldn't open the steering. So I was kind of stuck on the headrest.

"I just had to lift off my hand and abort the lap. Nothing too serious, but it took me by surprise."

Albon said one of the biggest things he had to get used to was the wind - especially how a tailwind can affect braking for some corners.

"In Barcelona we were really lucky with that stuff, it was zero," he added. "It's amazing.

"It's just understanding it, and even on my side not reporting it - saying 'this corner is this', but it's not actually, it's just because the wind is doing it."

He added: "There are big tailwinds, which is really new to me. So with these cars, they're so sensitive that tailwinds, headwinds, they're changing balances massively.

"I was already used to it from the previous laps, but of course it doesn't help when you have a gust or tailwind into Turn 1."

Albon's team-mate Daniil Kvyat said the wind at Albert Park was nothing unusual.

"It is different conditions to Barcelona," said the Russian. "The track is bumpy, and there is more wind.

"We had let's say seven days almost perfect at testing at Barcelona, so coming here, this track is more of a street circuit, so of course it is a big difference. But yeah, it is quite normal here."