Alexander Albon, Red Bull, Circuit of the Americas, 2019

Consistency more important than “big result” for Albon in pursuit of 2020 seat

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In the round-up: Alexander Albon says consistent performances and improvement are more important to his Red Bull future than bagging a “big result”.

What they say

Albon was asked if he needs a “big result” before the end of the year to justify a full-time driver at Red Bull for the 2020 F1 season.

I don’t think I’m trying to look for this big result. I think it’s just consistency and improving.

It’s a shame I didn’t do my lap in quali [his best time was deleted for a track limits violation] because it would have been a pretty good lap. But that’s how it goes.

I think trying to put myself in a position where I need to score, have a big race or anything, I’m not looking at it like that.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Robert Kubica should just blame Williams for his lack of opportunities to race other cars this year, says Ben:

Just take last race as an example, I think the qualifying gap between him and his team mate was nearly 1.5 seconds. In Q1 there was a smaller gap than this between first and 10th.

Say he was in a car in the midfield, with pace this poor. There was just under 1.5 second between Perez in 11th and Russell in 19th. If Kubica was in a midfield car, he would likely still most often qualify right at the back. And I really do think that if he was in a top car, a good deal of the midfield drivers would very often beat him.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Consistency more important than “big result” for Albon in pursuit of 2020 seat”

  1. Profile Photo

    Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    3rd November 2019, 8:04

    Thanks for the COTD. Although I am wondering if the first words should be “Robert Kubica shouldn’t” rather than “Should”

    As I don’t think my comment implies that I think he should just blame Williams. As I mention that if he was in the midfield, with qualifying this bad, he would still be pretty much last a great deal of the time.

    1. Profile Photo

      Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
      3rd November 2019, 9:45

      Yes Ben I think you must be right.

      The comment is negative about Kubica rather than just Williams.

    2. Jake
      3rd November 2019, 12:34

      Hard to know with what’s going on at Williams. But funny you pick out the last race where he was very competitive in the race and would have beaten his teammate fair and square if not for a late race puncture.

      1. Profile Photo

        Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
        3rd November 2019, 12:42

        I did say last race, but meant last race weekend and was specifically talking about qualifying. And regarding my point about qualifying, he still would have qualified last if he was in a decent car most likely. I do admit that his race performance was better last time out. But that is just so rare to see. He should look better than a rookie more than once in a season. I know he’s been through a lot, but I don’t see what Williams has gained by having him this season.

  2. Profile Photo

    Jere (@jerejj)
    3rd November 2019, 8:21

    Re Keith’s tweet about the T19 track limits-topic; I don’t understand why have they been this strick about that specific corner for this and last season’s event anyway? As recently as back in 2017, the FIA didn’t care about going off there at all because based on the mini-sector times, going off there with all four wheels beyond wholly beyond the curb wasn’t any faster compared to staying on the track or the curb with at least two wheels, so why the sudden change in approach twelve months later? If going off there didn’t have a direct impact on the overall lap nor sector time with the 2017 cars, then how could it have been different from the ’18 and current cars?

    A nicely photoshopped image in the Haas-tweet, though, LOL.

    1. Profile Photo

      Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
      3rd November 2019, 9:17

      It is quicker. Drive it in a sim like iRacing and it’s easy to notice the gain in time the wider you go. Or watch the last Indycar race here, where they ignored track limits and see what happened.

      Tarmac run-offs need a 2021 reset just like the rest of the F1 package.

      1. Profile Photo

        Jere (@jerejj)
        3rd November 2019, 12:48

        @aussierod But not in 2017 or before that, and the tarmac run-off areas are here to stay as tarmac slows cars down almost twice as quickly as gravel does, i.e., significantly more efficiently.

        @spoutnik That’s a more plausible possibility.

    2. Profile Photo

      spoutnik (@spoutnik)
      3rd November 2019, 11:18

      @jerejj on sky sports thet suggested it could be for security reasons – the safety features not being adapted for cars too close at that speed. For what it’s worth.

      1. Profile Photo

        spoutnik (@spoutnik)
        3rd November 2019, 11:21

        … And apparently with other series drivers have been so much off the track that it was dangerous.

Comments are closed.