Albon on Red Bull debut: "You have to go into it as confident as you can"

On Friday Alex Albon will step into a Red Bull for the first time on a race weekend following his promotion from Toro Rosso. The Thai driver is adamant he must be confident going into the Belgian Grand Prix even if he isn't fully prepared.

Albon stepped up to Toro Rosso from Formula 2 this year but has already impressed enough during his debut season to earn the promotion to Red Bull at the expense of Pierre Gasly. Albon is 15th in the Drivers' Championship and has helped the Toro Rosso team to fifth in the Constructors' equivalent.

The step-up comes at an unexpected time for Albon but he insisted he must remain confident ahead of his Red Bull debut.

“You have to go into it as confident as you can,” Albon told RaceFans.

“I know how I am, I’ve only done six months in a Formula 1 car, so there is definitely room for improvement. When I look back at how I was in Melbourne and how I am now I definitely improved as a driver.

“In terms of the whole feeling of not being ready… at the beginning of the year in February when I did drive the car I felt more in the same situation than I do now.

"That kind of anxiety, stress about what it’s going to be like, I kind of went through that already in January so coming into the summer break I was a lot more relaxed about it. And again we’ll see.”