Alex Albon believes that Red Bull designs its cars to suit the requirements of its star driver, Max Verstappen, but the two-time F1 world champion strongly disagrees with that assertion.
Save for Daniel Ricciardo during Verstappen’s first seasons at Red Bull, the Dutchman has made minced meat of every teammate who has attempted to challenge his hegemony.
In the wake of Ricciardo’s departure from Red Bull at the end of 2018, the team promoted Pierre Gasly to the senior bull outfit, but the Frenchman was no match for the young man sitting on the other side of the garage.
Gasly was replaced mid-season by Albon, but while Verstappen and his new teammate were more closely matched in 2020, the Anglo-Thai charger was ultimately sent to the sidelines when Red Bull ushered in Sergio Perez for 2021.
The Mexican has enjoyed having the upper hand over Verstappen on occasion, winning three races for Red Bull, including the Monaco Grand Prix on merit last year.
But overall, Verstappen remains the unquestionable leader of Red Bull, and rightly so believes Albon given that Red Bull’s contenders are purposefully designed to suit the two-time world champion’s driving style, at least according to the Williams charger.
“This isn’t to throw shade at anyone at Red Bull Racing or Max or anything, honestly,” Albon told The Players’ Tribune.
“But the car is set up in a unique way that is built around the lead driver, and that’s Max. And, look, I totally get why.
“I mean, when all is said and done, he might be the greatest driver of all time. But he has a very distinct style of driving, and he likes the car set up a certain way that’s hard for a lot of drivers to sync up with.
“Of course, you can tinker and tweak your own car, but just the Red Bull in general is suited to Max’s style.”
Verstappen however, strongly denies that Red Bull always sets out to design a car that suits his needs, insisting he’s often had to adapt in the past, like any other driver, to the prevailing characteristics of his mount.
It’s a well-known fact, admitted by Verstappen himself, that the flying Dutchman does not like an understeering car. Yet that was the main trait of last year’s overweight RB18 fielded by Red Bull, at least in the early stages of the 2022 season.
©RedBull
Verstappen’s early frustrations gradually subsided however as the shed its excessive pounds. But the 25-year-old is adamant that “a car cannot be fast with understeer, it’s impossible”.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily just suited to my driving style,” Verstappen replied when asked about Red Bull’s design approach.
“As a driver, you need to adapt to what you get, and that’s also what I thought when I joined Red Bull, because the car was always like that.
“It had a good front-end, but I never experienced a fast car which has understeer in my life, in any category.
“For me, it’s nothing weird when it feels like the team is really pushing around my driving style. I feel like if people asked me ‘what is your driving style?’ I cannot tell you, because I always adapt to what I get in the best way possible.
“Sometimes it’s a bit harder than others, but I think that’s the key, you need to adapt. Every year, every track is different. That’s what you try to do best every time.”
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Albon says Red Bull cars ‘built around’ Verstappen – Max disagrees F1i.com.
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