Albon has “a lot of talent” and deserves F1 return – Verstappen

2021 Italian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by and

Max Verstappen says his former Red Bull team mate Alexander Albon deserves his chance to return to Formula 1 next year.

The 25-year-old endured a tough season alongside Verstappen last year, scoring less than half as many points as his team mate before being dropped by Red Bull at the end of the year. Williams confirmed yesterday Albon will join their team for the 2022 F1 season alongside Nicholas Latifi.

“I’m very happy with Alex coming back into Formula 1,” said Verstappen. “He’s a great guy, he’s a hard worker, and he definitely deserves a spot in Formula 1.

“He has a lot of talent. I’m also very sure that he will come back strong and will show good results.”

After losing his race seat last year Albon remained with Red Bull as their development driver. His relationship with Verstappen has therefore continued through Albon’s work exploring set-up options on the RB16B using the team’s simulator during race weekends.

“We talk a lot about the car and, when Alex is on the simulator, his findings,” Verstappen explained. “Also when we have questions after Friday and Alex is on the sim or whatever, he knows the car.

“Of course the car changed a little bit from last year and the year before but the general way of driving is the same. So you can relate about a lot of stuff, what’s going on also with development stuff. So, of course, it’s been very helpful on the simulator for us.”

Albon’s return to F1 has come about due to George Russell’s move to Mercedes, which created at vacancy at Williams. Verstappen expects he will perform well alongside world champion Lewis Hamilton.

“I’m happy for George, but I think this was quite a logical step and I think everyone could see it coming,” said Verstappen. “It was maybe the worst-kept-secret anyway. So it’s not a shock. It’s normal when you’re doing well and you’re a young guy, of course, at one point, when you are linked with Mercedes, you will end up there.

“So I’m very happy for George that he got the seat and I’m sure he will do a good job there.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2021 Italian Grand Prix

Browse all 2021 Italian Grand Prix articles

8 comments on “Albon has “a lot of talent” and deserves F1 return – Verstappen”

  1. Belgium wants Vandoorme back at wheel!!

  2. That talent certainly was NOT on show in the DTM. Albon got shown up by Lawson big time.

    1. Albon’s main job at Redbull is to be the part of F1 team to help them win the Championship. He is racing in DTM because after the underwhelming rule change they needed some media attention. He is part of a nice gesture from one Austrian (Marko and Redbull) to another (Berger). It doesn’t mean that Lawson isn’t talented, he is a great potential and he is working hard to get a seat at the top spot.

      1. Rubbish. Any racing driver worth his/her salt will race to their utmost potential whatever they drive. Put the top drivers in go carts and all hell will break loose. They will race each other as hard as they can. That is their racers DNA.

        Albon did not just get beaten up by Lawson but virtually all the top drivers. His skill level was poor in comparison to the other drivers and if he thought he could just cruise around and not do justice to the sponsors, he is neither doing himself or the sponsors justice.

        I think Red Bull expectations would have been much greater than what Albon has produced in DTM.

        Now that he has been shunted from Red Bull to Williams he is just another pay to race driver.

        1. Ah cool thanks. You opened my eyes. Now I realize now how terrible of pay drivers Alonso, Raikonnen, Schumacher, Kubica, Mansell are since they switched categories and got beaten by their teammates in Indycar, WEC, Nascar, Rally and Touring cars.

  3. He deserved a fair chance at Red Bull.

    The guy really hasn’t won anything after karting. How did he show “a lot of talent” if he couldn’t win any championship for over a decade?

  4. I just noticed Albon is 25 years old i thought he was as old as Lando and George. Albon can show everyone we were wrong by doing the same as George but in the races a bit more steady.

    1. The painful thing for Albon is, that he is the guy that Norris, Russell, Verstappen and the others were looking up to when they were still karting.
      Being slightly older he was the first one winning the world karting championship etc.

      Till Now he is the one that sort of got left behind.

Comments are closed.