Albon says the pressure of being Max’s teammate is a “myth”

On his third teammate in three years, Albon Albon has denied claims that being Max Verstappenhis teammate comes with extra pressure.

Albon was briefly Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull, brought into the squad in mid-2019 to replace underperforming Pierre Gasly.

But, at the end of the following year, he found himself joining the Frenchman on the list of drivers dropped by Red Bull, his place going to Sergio Perez.

Perez also struggled to be Verstappen’s teammate, unable to match the Dutchman’s results although, unlike Gasly and Albon, he has at least one win on the board as a Red Bull driver.

This has led to claiming that being Verstappen’s partner is a job under high pressure, as his teammates struggle – and fail too often – to live up to expectations.

Albon canceled that, saying there was no more pressure than any other racing job.

“To be honest, all the pressure stories are a bit of a myth,” he said. Motorsport-Total.com.

“The main thing is that the driver puts the pressure on himself, it comes from you. “

Red Bull merchandise is available for purchase now through the official Formula 1 store

But the media perspective on the situation does not help.

“The media is a lot more aggressive there,” said the Thai-British runner.

“You are always there to perform and do your job well. So when I ride in DTM, I put pressure on myself to do well.

Abandoned from a Formula 1 seat at the end of 2020, Albon entered DTM, still with the support of Red Bull as he was kept as the team’s reserve driver.

That, however, doesn’t come with a lot of time in the car, Albon enjoying his days of DTM racing. He achieved victory in this category and occupies sixth place in the championship.

“I don’t drive as much as I would like [in F1], “he said.” There are hardly any test days in Formula 1. So far I have had three this year. “

“But GT cars are different from Formula 1 vehicles. If you’re good at DTM, that doesn’t mean anything to Formula 1. As a racing driver, of course, you want to be good everywhere.

The next step in Albon’s career is a Formula 1 racing seat with Williams, the driver back on the grid next season.

“It’s always been Plan A,” he said, “But the more I talked to people about Williams, the more interesting it got.

“The team is also on the rise again. If you consider where Williams was two years ago and where he is now, then as a team he’s certainly made the biggest strides right now. And the atmosphere is good, under the new rules to attack correctly.

PlanetF1 Verdict