F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Being Verstappen's team mate gives Albon 'the best data'

Alexander Albon admits that being Max Verstappen's team mate at Red Bull inevitably means he has a tough time measuring up - but insists that it's worth it as it also gives him access to the best performance data available.

Albon has been alongside Verstappen since he was promoted to the senior team a year ago. He claimed his maiden Formula 1 podium last month at Mugello but has struggled to come close to the Dutch driver's straight line speed.

However, the Thai driver insists that he's rather have the pressure of being compared to a driver like Verstappen because of the benefits it provided him as he continues to hone his race craft.

"You're always going to have a tough time to be up against him," Albon told Motorsport.com. “He's on the limit, all the time. From FP1 to the race.

“But at the same time, the way I see it is you've got pretty much the best data as well to look at.

"To be able to look over and see where Max is quick and how he gets his lap time, it's also very good as a racing driver to be able to see that and improve yourself on that.”

Albon has now competed in 31 Grands Prix since he made his debut with Toro Rosso at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. While he's no longer a rookie, he's aware that it's still a very early stage in his F1 career.

“I am experienced, in the sense that I've done a year now, but in the global sense of it, I'm still learning and I'm still getting up to speed," he acknowledged.

He added that Verstappen wasn't going out of his way to help him out, but neither was he holding back and concealing anything that might improve Albon's performance and that of the team as a whole.

“No one's going to be accommodating to each other," Albon said. “Everyone at this kind of stage in motorsport, they keep it to themselves,

“But at the same time he's definitely not hiding anything. There's no kind of political nature about him, not in the slightest. He's very open in how he speaks."

Albon added that he and Verstappen had similar thoughts when it came to technical feedback on how the car was handling, which helped the team tackle problems and improve performance.

"It's an open book," he said. "We speak openly about what we need in the car and it tends to go in the same direction, so it's nice in that sense."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

1 hour ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

2 hours ago

Ferrari and Mercedes admit to plank changes based on FIA’s TD

Ferrari and Mercedes have both modified their car’s floor element in Las Vegas to comply…

3 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Hamilton continues on top in second practice

Lewis Hamilton put Mercedes on top of the timesheets for the second time in Las…

3 hours ago

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

Full results from Free Practice 2 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas,…

3 hours ago

Leclerc confident Ferrari ‘has a shot’ at F1 Constructors’ title

Charles Leclerc believes that Ferrari has a genuine “shot” at beating rival McLaren to Formula…

4 hours ago