Albon hoping for 'a lot less noise' at Monza

Red Bull's Alex Albon is expecting a "quieter" race weekend at Monza, with the media's interest and scrutiny subsiding after Spa.

Albon's maiden race with Red Bull Racing yielded a fifth-place finish that drew praise from team boss Christian Horner, who admitted having been "impressed" all weekend by the British-Thai racer's performance.

However, the Milton Keynes-based outfit's RB15 won't be on its most friendly terrain at Monza, and neither will Albon actually.

"It's actually not one that I love driving-wise," he acknowledged in Red Bull's Italian Grand Prix preview.

"There's just something about it but I still managed to fight for third there in F2 last year and I was a tenth off pole, so it's not a disaster!"

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Contrary to Spa, where a grid penalty rendered qualifying a futile exercise, Albon will have an opportunity to push for a performance on Saturday afternoon, and hopefully pick up on race day where he left off in Belgium.

"Monza will really be a continuation of the work we did in Spa and I'll keep on learning as much as I can," he added.

"I think it's a good thing Spa and Monza are back-to-back races as after the race on Sunday, I jump in the sim on Wednesday and keep everything fresh in my mind ahead of the weekend.

"That way I don't need time to re-understand the car.

"I think on my side we're going to focus more on qualifying runs which is fun, whereas in Spa we looked more at race runs because of the penalty."

Finally, the 23-year-old is expecting the media's attention to ease at Monza after last weekend's initial buzz and scrutiny.

"Last week was a bit of a blur and there was so much to take in, maybe that’s partly why I looked so chilled!" he said.

"I'm guessing, and hoping, there will be a lot less noise and attention on Thursday so that it's a bit quieter for me!"

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