Alex Albon has highlighted Red Bull’s race execution as one aspect where it still boasts an “edge” over the competition as the title fight heats up in Formula 1 in 2024.
The pace advantage that Red Bull had and was prevalent earlier this season has been dispelled in recent months as McLaren and Mercedes have eradicated the gap.
With Sergio Perez struggling alongside Max Verstappen in the RB20, McLaren has relied on a versatile car and two equal drivers to reduce the advantage to 42 points.
However, McLaren has squandered numerous opportunities to have seized more than the two victories it has attained this season through various strategic mistakes.
Albon, who drove for Red Bull between mid-2019 and 2020, argues the Austrian outfit retains the upper hand when it comes to being the most well-oiled F1 operation.
The current Williams driver has pinpointed how Red Bull’s strive to be unblemished to beat Mercedes across its barren run has provided it with a trump card this term.
“Despite everything, I still see Red Bull as a very well-executed team,” Albon told RacingNews365.
“I still feel like they haven’t lost their edge in terms of execution. Pit stop strategy, generally speaking, is always very good.
“And they do show you that even with not always having a top car, either if it’s Max or if it’s team, they seem to execute things very well.
“I think that’s one of the biggest positives Red Bull has always had, is the years where they’ve been behind Mercedes, they’ve created a very strong race team, general team.
“And to me, you still see a little bit of that, like that final little bit, they seem to have an edge on [over] other teams.”
With Mercedes also becoming a contender at the sharp end with three victories in five races prior to the break, the leading quartet have all won several races in 2024.
Albon has expressed that the convergence at the top hasn’t come as a surprise to him, citing that it was inevitable that the chasing pack was going to reel in Red Bull.
“Eventually, people were going to catch up,” the Anglo-Thai racer asserted.
“I think that’s the great thing about the regulations not changing, is there’s enough time for teams to catch up.
“McLaren, you can just see, their car looks quite different to the other top teams to drive, it just looks a little bit different, and they seem to make it work, which is which is very interesting.
“I’ve seen people talking about [how] the development of the Red Bull cars just slowed down, because they’ve got to their peak and they struggle to add more performance to their car.
“I guess you could see, at some point, the limitation – the regulations are limited so you can only do so much.”
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