Albon: "I must always be at my highest level next to Verstappen"

Last year Albon must have blinked his eyes. At the beginning of 2019 he wouldn't even drive Formula 1 and after the summer break he suddenly joined Red Bull Racing. "Last year I sometimes couldn't believe it, but this year I really have to be there", Albon says in conversation with De Telegraaf.

"During the long break I was able to talk a lot with the team, with the engineers at Red Bull. At that moment everyone feels a little more relaxed. During the race-weekend it's just a lot more stressful. It's a big responsibility to drive for such a team," the young driver explains.

Besides that Albon has to prove himself next to Verstappen, which isn't easy. "I always have to be at my best level, because Max is very fast. But I see this as an opportunity. I can now learn from one of the best drivers in the world, as Christian Horner called him. I can now see up close why he's so fast and how he can handle his tyres so well."

Dutch F1 fans

Although Albon grew up in England, he chose to ride under the Thai flag. He hopes that one day there will be as many F1 fans in Thailand as there are in the Netherlands. "When I went to the Netherlands with Max, everyone was so positive. It seems like everyone there is an F1 fan. In Thailand it is starting to live more and more and my goal is to get the sport as big there as in other countries".

The driver of Red Bull Racing only has another goal first, which is a lot more achievable in the short term: winning a race. In Austria he was close, but an incident with Lewis Hamilton caused him to lose the victory. "I'm not going to do anything else in the future and I'm not going to change my approach", Albon concluded.