Verstappen ‘driving on his own at Red Bull’ F1 - Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton says Max Verstappen is “kind of” driving on his own at Red Bull during the 2020 Formula 1 season amid Alex Albon’s struggles.

While Mercedes has enjoyed a dominant start to the 2020 season, Verstappen has been the only driver to inflict a defeat on the German manufacturer this year at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone.

In Belgium, Verstappen recorded his sixth consecutive podium as he maintained second place in the championship ahead of Valtteri Bottas, and 47 points down on leader Hamilton.

Verstappen’s teammate Alex Albon sits fourth in the standings, 62 points behind the Dutchman, and has finished no higher than fourth so far this season. He also has a tendency to start races a few places behind Verstappen after being comfortably outqualified by the no.33 Red Bull.

And Hamilton believes Red Bull are not operating at their full potential because only one of its drivers is consistently challenging the Mercedes duo.

“What you’ve got to look at with the Red Bulls is, I think they’ve got a very good car,” Hamilton said.

“I think people downplay it, but they’ve got a very, very strong car, and Max is doing a great job with it.

“Unfortunately, both drivers aren’t there like me and Valtteri [Bottas] are there and that makes it harder for them.

“I experienced it many years ago when I was at McLaren and I was the driver that was always at the front and didn’t have a teammate backing up,” he added.

“So equally, you don’t get the constructors’ points, but then you can’t play strategy on the cars that you’re racing against. So [Red Bull] have got that – [Max is] kind of there on his own.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has repeatedly defended Albon’s performance since he joined the team at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix, having replaced the struggling Pierre Gasly.

“Everybody’s obviously got an opinion on this topic but they don’t have really the facts,” Horner explained.

“Alex is doing a good job in what’s been a difficult car this year. It’s a different car to last year, I’d say the car’s harder to drive than 12 months ago.

“When he got in the car 12 months ago he did a much stronger job than Pierre had done up to that point in the year. I think Alex has got a lot of talent that obviously we haven’t seen come to the surface yet.

“His racing has been very strong on a Sunday but he’s struggled with the car over a single lap. And, of course, Max has been so strong at getting the most out of the car.

“You think back to some of the great drivers, whether it’s a [Michael] Schumacher or an [Ayrton] Senna, and being a driver alongside those guys was very tough. I think that’s a similar situation that the seat alongside Max has at the moment.

“Alex is only going to get better. He’s still pretty young and inexperienced. This is only his second season of F1 racing and we’re doing all that we can to support him and develop him.”