Alex Albon has candidly opened up about his time at Red Bull and where he failed against four-time Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen.
The 2019 season turned out to be a breakthrough season for rookie Albon as his results with Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls) earned him a surprise promotion to Red Bull.
A decision was made to replace the misfiring Pierre Gasly midway through the campaign to install the Anglo-Thai driver alongside Verstappen.
And while he fared decently well against the Dutchman that year, all eyes were on him in his sophomore year against Verstappen.
Despite two podium finishes, Albon could only finish seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, lagging behind his team-mate by a whopping 109 points.
He was let go by the Milton Keynes-based squad at the end of the season in favour of the more experienced Sergio Perez.
Looking back, Albon conceded that he might have been pushed into the limelight a tad too soon.
“So when I was with Max, I was so consumed in just myself trying to improve,” he told RacingNews365.
“And a lot of that was kind of just digging myself into data and understanding, ‘Okay, why… How can Max do this?’ And ‘How do I drive around these issues, and how does he feel there?’
“But I was inexperienced, so I didn’t really know the right questions to ask in many ways, and I never really got on top of it.”
How Red Bull axe saved Albon’s F1 career
After getting the boot by Red Bull, Albon was forced to sit out the 2021 season on the sidelines.
But Williams gave him a second chance when it signed him to partner with Nicholas Latifi for 2022.
Since then, the 29-year-old has not finished behind his team-mate in overall standings – a trend he seems to be keeping up even with Carlos Sainz this season.
14 rounds into the season so far, Albon is comfortably ahead of the Spanish driver by a margin of 38 points, leading the Grove-based team’s charge to lead the midfield.
Albon went on to explain how his time off from the sport benefited him. Today, he is confident that he can go toe-to-toe against a proven Grand Prix winner in Sainz.
“I talk a lot about my year out,” he continued.
“[It] kind of allowed me a bit more time to get on top of it before I got back in, and then with Carlos, it’s more: I do have the bandwidth, I do have the mental space, and I do have the knowledge to understand.”
READ MORE – How Carlos Sainz has already made a ‘big impact’ at Williams
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