Alex Albon: Overheating slicks were faster in the rain at the Belgian Grand Prix

Williams driver Alex Albon revealed that his slick tyres were overheating so much at the Belgian Grand Prix that the rain improved their performance.

The Williams team saw Spa as a circuit that would suit the low-drag characteristics of their FW45 car, providing Albon with an opportunity to replicate his previous successful points-scoring performances at Sakhir, Montreal, and Silverstone earlier in the year.

Starting from 15th on the grid, Albon made an impressive first lap, climbing up to 10th position. He even reached as high as seventh at one point before making an early pit stop.

Despite his strong start, Albon's focus on preserving his tires hindered his pace, particularly through the slower middle section of the track. As a result, he gradually lost positions and ultimately finished in 14th place.

"It was a tricky race the whole race, because we're running that low downforce, which is quite fun in some ways," he said.

"And in other ways, especially when you go through sector two, it's not that fun anymore.

"And it just degrades the tyres so much. We saw it already on the wet tyres, we predicted a lot of deg for us. But it was a bit of a wake-up call just how much deg we did have, particularly on that medium tyre.

"And the other issue was to race the cars around me, I was basically having to over push in sector two, because as soon as I backed off one corner, as soon as I tried to manage the tyre in the places you need to, Turn 10, 11 and 12, I was immediately under fire, I almost immediately got overtaken by the car behind.

"I had to almost over push the tyre to stay in front. And then it's a vicious cycle, because you then degrade more. And you're already trying to save the tyre, but you're not allowed to, you don't have the freedom.

"It's not like Canada or Austria or Silverstone, where I felt like I could manage the tyre in a couple of corners. Here it was like they were up my gearbox the whole time. So I had to keep pushing.

"What's actually interesting to me was when it started to rain, it cooled my tyres down.

"And it gave me more grip than I had in the dry. And so I actually caught them back up again, and actually had a resurgence of pace, which just shows you how much overheating we were doing."