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Alexander Albon says he took more pleasure from matching Max Verstappen’s lap time in qualifying than he did from achieving a career-best fourth-place finish in the Japanese Grand Prix.
Aside from the Italian Grand Prix where Verstappen failed to set a lap time, Albon is yet to outqualify his new team-mate in their five races together but was able to set an identical time to the Dutchman in Suzuka to line up sixth on the grid.
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Despite going on to finish fourth in the race, a career-best for the London-born Thai driver, Albon insists his one-lap pace was the thing that pleased him the most this weekend.
“Obviously, I wanted to be a bit stronger coming into the weekend, [we were] close but just didn’t quite have the pace so we’ll have a look and come back stronger in Mexico,” said Albon.
“I’m happy with obviously finishing fourth, but I'm more happy with qualifying even though I was sixth. It’s starting to feel a bit more comfortable now, even just doing the Pirelli test I did on Monday helps with that. More mileage in the car is always good for me.”
Asked if he felt he was making a strong case for a full-time Red Bull seat next season, Albon added, “It’s getting there. I feel like just straight away I felt more comfortable in the car in FP1. I had the car a bit more under me and felt I could do what I wanted.
“As soon as you get confidence, that’s where the lap time is. I just felt more confident this weekend at a track where you need it to be honest.
“I’m focusing on myself, to be honest. I’m treating each weekend as it comes, not really thinking too much [about next season]. I’m just thinking about current performance. Time will tell.”
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Replies (2)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Steady gains, but I still don't think of Albon in any way as a future star. However, I'm aware he's very young and that he got put in that car a couple of races ago. But in all honesty, I am very unimpressed to seeing him regularly fighting with Mclaren's at the beginning of almost every race he's had with Red Bull
abhidbgt
Posts: 283
Happy for the guy.