Albon on working with Verstappen: 'That's when it gets really fun'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
In 2022 Alex Albon will move from Red Bull Racing to Williams, but this season he is still working hard for his current employer as a test and reserve driver. The Thai driver spends a lot of time in the simulator and still works closely with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez during race weekends.
Feedback from Verstappen and Perez
In a new edition of the Talking Bull Albon talks about his activities during a race weekend. Before the free practices on Friday, he tries to set the car as good as possible in the simulator so Verstappen and Perez start the free practices with the best possible base set-up. On Friday, they will then really look at the performance on the track.
"That's when it gets really fun," says Albon. "We listen to the feedback from Verstappen and Perez and their experiences on the track. Then we give our suggestions." Albon's simulator work, therefore, has a lot of influence on the final set-up of the cars.
Reproducing Verstappen's problems
In the podcast, Albon gives an example of how the collaboration between him and Verstappen then works. "Suppose Verstappen has certain problems or changes he wants to make, we first have to make sure we have the same problems in the simulator as he has. For example, if he has a car with rear-end imbalance in turn two, we have to simulate that and make adjustments so that he is happy. That feedback then goes to his engineer."
Working in the simulator means that Albon may be busier this season than when he was driving Formula 1 himself. "We sometimes go until 23:00 and on Saturdays I have to get up again around 3:00/4:00 to go to the track. Formula 1 is very hectic, but now it's maybe even more hectic. I had a week off last week for the first time in four and a half months."