Alex Albon opens up about his Red Bull stint and preferential treatment given to Max Verstappen

Alex Albon recently expressed his thoughts on how Red Bull made a car that suited Max Verstappen's driving style.

In a beautifully written journal by the man himself, Alex Albon explained how Verstappen had a very distinct driving style and how the team made a car that suited it. Albon understands that a team must support their number one driver and never disparage anyone on the team. To that end, he simply shared his experience as a Red Bull driver:

"This isn’t to throw shade at anyone at Red Bull Racing or Max or anything, honestly. But the car is set up in a unique way that is built around the lead driver, and that’s Max. And, look, I totally get why. I mean, when all is said and done, he might be the greatest driver of all time. But he has a very distinct style of driving, and he likes the car set up a certain way that’s hard for a lot of drivers to sync up with. Of course, you can tinker and tweak your own car, but just the Red Bull in general is suited to Max’s style."

Alex Albon further explained how he always liked his car to have a sensitive front end. However, when he joined Red Bull, he learned that Max Verstappen wanted an even more sensitive front end, which was way too much for him:

"I like a lot of front end and nose. I’ve been teammates with George and Charles and I’ve always had way more nose than them. Basically think front-end sensitivity. And when I got into the Red Bull … I mean there was so much nose on the thing that if you blew on the wheel the car would turn."

During his stint with the Austrian-British team, Albon was unable to match Verstappen's pace, partially due to the unique car setup that favored the Dutchman's driving style.

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Alex Albon claims that James Vowles wants Williams to have the same winning mentality as Mercedes

Speaking to the media after the Williams 2023 car launch event, Alex Albon explained how the team's new boss, James Vowles, wants them to have a winning mentality similar to Mercedes. Addressing that topic, Albon stated:

"He motivates all of us to listen to him and to understand why Mercedes do certain things and the reasons for it. He said the team wants to have that winning mentality that Mercedes have used. It’s a little bit tricky just because of this being almost peak month for [us] getting ready for the next year."

Since Vowles has been an integral part of the Silver Arrows for several years, he will bring plenty of experience and a positive mentality with him to help Williams move up the grid and enter the midfield.