Albon expects unpredictable race: 'We saw that in Mugello too'

Alexander Albon has to do more in the final rounds of 2020 to be sure of a place at Red Bull Racing in 2021. The Thai managed to reach a podium in Mugello, but the rest of the season is still far from ideal. In Portimao F1 will once again go to a circuit where they have never raced before, so Albon has good hopes.

“Yes I have good memories from Portimao with pole position and a podium there in Formula 3. It’s a really cool track with a lot of character and a good flow to it,” explains Albon in the preview of Red Bull. “The first thing that hits you when you arrive are the mega impressive elevation changes throughout the circuit. It’s going to be physical with the heat and it’s quite a bumpy track with some blind corners on entry which just adds to the fun.”

Portimao is a roller coaster

So Albon is looking forward to the curves on the circuit in Portimao. The circuit is new for the F1 calendar, so there are a lot of unknown factors for the drivers. “At one section of track you go up a hill almost blind where you feel like the car is going to take off and then it suddenly drops down a hill before rising again into a completely blind corner. You brake, turn in, and you don’t know where you’re going and then the corner just appears on your right, before dropping down massively again.”

So Albon really describes Portimao as a rollercoaster and compares the Portuguese circuit with the other new circuit on the F1 calendar for 2020. “It’s really impressive and it’ll be good because I think, as we saw in Mugello, new tracks are fun and make it interesting. They throw the dice a bit in terms of how teams are able to adapt to the circuit.”

Opportunities for young drivers

Albon is therefore in favour of the introduction of new circuits. “I think new tracks give opportunities to the inexperienced drivers because we’re used to going to new tracks all the time in junior categories. In F1, the experienced guys have done the same circuits day in day out so it puts the ball a bit more into our court and makes it more fun, it evens the playing field going into FP1,” Albon concludes.