Albon debunks Verstappen Red Bull car theory: “People get very confused…”

Verstappen famously destroyed Albon during their time together as teammates - he did the same with Pierre Gasly and to a lesser extent, Sergio Perez.

Many pundits have often pointed towards Verstappen’s driving style and how he likes to have a car with considerable amounts of oversteer or a strong front-end.

As a result, some have criticised Red Bull for designing their cars around Verstappen meaning the driver who is in the second car has little hope of challenging. 

In an interview with Express Sport, Albon explained why this is simply a misconception.

“I think people get very confused with designing a car around a driver and a driver who’s very very quick and wants a car a certain way,” Albon said.

“Of course, you’re going to listen to the driver who’s getting the performance in and getting a good job because the potential is more. I’m not going to call myself guilty for it but people misinterpret my words where they think what I’m trying to say is the car is built around him.

“No, it’s the fact that he can deal with it and he drives it in a certain way. You’ve got to try and find what he has because at the end of the day he’s making it work. Honestly, that’s the difference.”

Since leaving Red Bull, Albon has flourished with Williams, acting as their lead driver following George Russell’s switch to Mercedes.

Even though he missed out on points in Australia, Albon is confident Williams can get their season back on track with top 10 finishes at low downforce tracks.

"Low deg, low energy tracks suit us because we are a little bit skinnier on the downforce side, we slide around more," Albon added.

"We create a bit more surface temperature than other cars. 

"That's why you know actually in Bahrain we were okay because it was a night race, Jeddah, we were ok on race pace - it was night race. [In Australia, it] is just naturally cold. 

"We were allowed to slide and the circuit is a bit forgiving. There are long straights after the corners which cool the tyres back down - it suits us."