Horner sees advantage with Albon: 'Hopefully that will work to our advantage'

Red Bull Racing experienced a dramatic qualifying session ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. In the second part of qualifying, it seemed likely that both drivers would be knocked out. In the end, the mechanics managed to perform a miracle and Max Verstappen managed to drive escape the drop zone, while Albon recovered under pressure. 

“Third on the grid for Max today was thanks to some incredible teamwork by the mechanics who managed to repair the electrical issue on car 33 in record time. Max was able to get back out on track in time to post a lap in Q2 but of course this had an effect on his preparation for Q3”, Christian Horner explained in Red Bull's review.

Albon on other strategy

“Third was probably still the optimum today and qualifying on the medium compound gives us options for tomorrow’s race”, Horner added. Where things went well with Verstappen in the end, Alexander Albon suffered a lot from the track limits during qualifying. “For Alex, having lost a few laps due to track limits, he had to make that last Q3 lap count and he did a solid job to line up on the third row of the grid with the sixth fastest time."

“Having set his best Q2 time on the soft tyre, Alex starts tomorrow’s race on a different tyre to Max which means we’ll have alternative strategies across both cars, which hopefully works to our advantage”, Horner concluded.