'RB18 of Verstappen and Perez is struggling to get into the right 'window'''

Alexander Albon played an important role in Max Verstappen's title fight in 2021. Behind the scenes, he did a lot of work in the simulator, but after his move to Williams, more responsibility will fall to Jake Dennis and Sebastien Buemi.

An important role from Albon

When the Formula One circus arrives at a track a team already looks big, but behind the scenes, there is a lot more going on. During a race weekend, engineers sit at the factory ready to examine all the data from the track, but drivers must also sit ready to help the regular drivers on the track.

At Red Bull Racing in 2021, Albon had an important role to play. The Thai made many hours in the simulator testing and improving the setup of Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The regular drivers were very happy with this and thus lost a good teammate since the departure of Albon.

Successors at Red Bull

Jake Dennis and Sebastien Buemi have been under contract with Red Bull for some time, but more is expected of them this year. Not only did Albon drop out, but with the completely new cars, there is also a lot to learn. Dennis let Motorsport.com that he has had to come into action twice already this year for Red Bull because the car is difficult to get into the right 'window'.

So Dennis and Buemi are working hard to help Verstappen and Perez in the background, but they don't always succeed. This is because Red Bull's two simulator drivers also compete in the Formula E championship, which in some cases is run on the same weekend as F1. So Dennis and Buemi are not always deployable, but for the Grand Prix in Imola, they are again, after missing out in Australia.