Albon: "My goal is to get in their way"

Alexander Albon starts today from fifth position, behind his teammate, the two Mercedes and a McLaren. However, he hopes to be of value to his teammate today.

The Thai himself indicated that he was not completely satisfied with his qualifying position. Verstappen also shared a small sneer towards him, after the Dutchman himself secured the first starting position. It may be Albon's last race in the Red Bull, as the team still hasn't decided on his future after his meagre season. He wasn't even put on next year's entry list.

"Soft tyre is not ideal"

Still, the 24 year old driver has high hopes that he can help Verstappen during the race. He will start on the softs, while his teammate and Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will start on the medium band. "That's my goal yes, to help him. It's a bit of a shame that I went wide in my run on the medium. We didn't want to take the risk of trying again on that tyre. The soft tyre is not ideal here, because it wears out pretty fast," he says to Autosport.com.

"The plan is to stay close, close to the action. Lando Norris is also in between. He drove a very good lap, so we need to pay attention to that too. The McLarens are the best starters on the grid, so I have to be careful. But I'm just going to try to make the Mercedes as difficult as possible with the strategy," said Albon, who has the last chance to prove himself to the team today.