Albon will be ‘knocking on door’ of F1 podium with qualifying gains

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes Alex Albon will be “knocking on the door” of a maiden Formula 1 podium once he is able to improve his qualifying performances. 

Albon has been comprehensively outpaced by teammate Max Verstappen in qualifying so far this season and was eliminated in Q2 at both the Hungarian and British Grands Prix, before improving to ninth for the 70th Anniversary race at Silverstone, though he was still half a second slower than Verstappen. 

Horner, who has been impressed by Albon’s recent recovery performances on race days, is confident his driver’s fortunes will change for the better if he can successfully turn around his Saturday displays. 

“It’s his Saturdays that he needs to work on,” Horner told Sky F1. 

“Sunday afternoons, he’s doing great. His overtaking, his pace is everything you could expect and his recovery in Silverstone was phenomenal. Some of the passing moves – you know some of the corners he was going around the outside, you hold your breath. 

“So it’s just getting him more comfortable with the car over a single lap. The car is tricky to drive at the moment and Max manages to drive around those problems. 

“Hopefully we can do more to help Alex, and as soon as he finds that consistency and confidence and starts to qualify in position, then with the race pace he’s had, I think he‘ll be knocking on the door of the podium before long.” 

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Albon explained that he was seeking to find “a better rhythm” during qualifying in his bid to improve. 

“I think it’s more being in a better rhythm throughout qualifying,” Albon said.

“To me last weekend was a better weekend, even in qualifying, just my last run wasn’t particularly strong. 

“Now it’ll be more or less going on from that and working through it, especially here, I think the weather and wind is quite similar for the full three days so there shouldn’t be strange things going on.

“You’re trying to focus on yourself as well and make sure you’re comfortable and confident with the car. That’s really it. 

“I think coming into this weekend, we’ve had a strong Silverstone and I do feel happier with the car, comparing the two races that we had so hopefully we can bring that forward.”