Albon finished the wet Q1 session in a solid sixth place, and at the start of Q2 he was the only driver to be sent out on slick tyres rather than intermediates on the drying track.
He duly logged a time that no one else could match even after a mass switch to slicks as the rain restarted.
A scrappy Q3 session left him 10th – prior to gaining a place from a penalty for Carlos Sainz – but Albon insisted that the Q2 performance was still worth celebrating.
“It’s nice to think about,” he said when asked about his session. “And firstly, I have to say it’s where we want to be.
“In some ways, I love it, because I hope it can show the factory and everyone in the race team that this is where we want to be in a couple of years.
“I know it took a bit of conditions to make it happen, but it’s just nice to be there and at least, for me, it shows me where we want to be.
“It motivates me. To be able to get a car that is able to be in P1 shows that we’re beginning to make steps forwards and that’s just the drive for this year and beyond. We want some more P1s.”
Source: Autosport