Alex Albon glad to be learning from “fastest driver on the grid” Max Verstappen

Albon debuted in his rookie season in Formula 1 last year with Toro Rosso, impressing enough to earn himself promotion to the senior team to switch with Pierre Gasly mid-way through.
 
The 23-year old scored 76 points in the remaining nine races, coming close to his first podium in Brazil before being spun by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
 
But Albon isn’t worried about the prospect of the challenge from Verstappen, looking at it as a learning opportunity.
 
 “I appreciate how quick he is,” Albon said of Verstappen as quoted by Motorsport.com.

“And it's good for me. I feel like what better way to learn and to prepare myself than against pretty much one of, if not the fastest driver, on the grid.

“I think it's a good way to speed up the learning process! And I see that as a positive, I see it as a good thing and a goal to chase and to close the gap.

“That's what I want. For me it's a good thing, because of his reputation. I see it as as a way that I can show myself and prove myself.”

Albon see no reason he cant match Verstappen in performances, but admits it will take time to adjust to the Red Bull car, something the Dutchman has had time to do since being part of the team since 2016.

“Everything's possible. There's never a time when I've gone 'oh Jesus, well, I'm going home!',” he added.

“But yeah, of course, he's very quick. And it is one of them things, it's normal - when I am good in a corner, I know I'm quick in the corner, and it will generally be two hundredths, three hundredths quicker than him.

“That's the kind of things that you're dealing with. But nothing's impossible.

“It's just him being comfortable with the car. He's spent a lot of years with with the team and he knows how to extract all that time [from the car], whereas for me it's still a bit of a learning process.”