Albon: "We’re driving a different car almost every weekend"

Alexander Albon could have been on the podium of the first Grand Prix of this season, but Lewis Hamilton (again) ended a good result for the Thai driver. In Hungary the driver crossed the line in fifth place, which seemed to be the maximum achievable. The Red Bull isn't at top level yet and the many changes provide a challenging season.

A different car every weekend

Talking to Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports F1, Albon says looking back on the second Grand Prix of the season: "I struggled a little bit [with the tires], not too much, I just had some blistering. I had to manage a little bit the tires. The second stint was a lot better." However, the upgrades for the car are the biggest challenge in all of this.

Since the season is so unusual, many more upgrades have been applied in a shorter period of time than usual. The result is that the car feels different over and over again. "I still getting used to it. Obviously with the upgrades being so new, you’re driving a different car almost every weekend. It’s a bit of lack of experience as well, getting up to speed, optimize the package early on."

Improving the car

For Red Bull Racing it is important to quickly find improvements in the car and implement those, if they want to reduce the gap with Mercedes. The good news is that they now know where the opportunities are.

Albon: "The main thing is, we know the areas we need to work on. Mercedes always starts strong in a championship and Red Bull… we tend to catch up towards the end, so we know there is space for improvement, that’s for sure." 

However, in order to compete for the championship this has to be done faster, otherwise Mercedes will disappear more and more out of sight. But the goal of Red Bull Racing is clear: "Unlocking that potential and getting more comfortable with the car as well together. That is our goal."