Albon: Pressure of being Verstappen's teammate 'a bit of a myth'

Alex Albon says the perennial stories about Max Verstappen's teammates succumbing to the pressure of racing alongside the Red Bull driver are "a bit of a myth".

Verstappen has contended with four different drivers at the Milton Keynes-based outfit in the past four years, and all have been forced to bow to the talent and skills of the flying Dutchman.

Daniel Ricciardo preferred to shy away from the inner-team challenge while his successor Pierre Gasly buckled halfway through the 2019 season.

Albon, who replaced the Frenchman from the Belgian Grand Prix that year, was given more time to make his case but when the time came for Red Bull's top brass to cast its vote, the Anglo-Thai racer was pushed to the sidelines and replaced by Sergio Perez.

Although the Mexican achieved a race win earlier this year, a feat neither Gasly or Albon had accomplished during their tenure, Perez has been on average comprehensively outpaced by Verstappen.

The 24-year-old is arguably a hard act to follow, a fact acknowledged by Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko. But Albon denies that life inside the Red Bull garage alongside Verstappen is akin to basking inside a pressure cooker.

"To be honest, all the stories about pressure are a bit of a myth," the future Williams charger told Motorsport-Total.com.

"The bottom line is that the driver puts the pressure on himself, that comes from you."

Albon points to the "aggressive" media in F1 as part of the reason for the misguided perception.

But the 25-year-old is adamant that he puts just as much pressure on himself when racing in the DTM than he did in F1.

• Read also: Albon owes Russell 'a couple of beers' for Williams push

"The media are much more aggressive there [in F1]," he said. "You are still there [in the DTM] to perform and do your job well. So when I drive in the DTM, I put myself under pressure to do well."

Albon's part-time involvement in the DTM isn't just about keeping himself busy and physically fit. The series is a favourite of Marko who keeps a watchful eye on Albon.

"Helmut enjoys the DTM, he likes racing there," he said. "I was even surprised by how much he likes the DTM."

Albon has won a race this season at the wheel of his AF Corse-prepared Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo, but he wished he would have had more track time this year in F1 as well.

"I don’t drive as much as I would like [in F1]," he said. "There are hardly any test days in Formula 1. So far I’ve had three this year.”

"But the GT cars are different from Formula 1 vehicles. If you are good in the DTM, that doesn’t mean anything for Formula 1. As a racing driver, of course, you want to be good everywhere."

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