Albon needs “experience” to tame a “capricious” Red Bull

After a start to the season where he alternated ups and downs, but overall suffered from a certain lack of rhythm compared to his teammate Max Verstappen, Alexander albon no longer works with Mike Lugg, the engineer who supported him since his arrival at Red Bull in the summer of 2019. 

The Milton Keynes team has indeed recalled Simon Rennie, Mark Webber's former racing engineer and Daniel Ricciardo, to put him in charge of the Thai’s car within track operations. Albon assured that he “ there was no problem » with Lugg, who took care of Pierre Gasly during the first half of the 2019 season and now works at the factory. 

« The car is finicky to drive, recognized Albon. The team felt that we needed experience and Simon has a lot of experience in F1. He knows the ropes of the sport and I hope he can point us in the right direction. 

I already had the opportunity to do a test session in Barcelona with him last year. Simon is also very involved in the work on the simulator in Milton Keynes ». 

• Verstappen hopes to be half a second behind Mercedes

After the last Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner admitted that the RB16 suffered from abnormal aerodynamic behavior in certain areas. 

Verstappen is not expecting a miracle this weekend at the British Grand Prix but the Dutchman hopes that the corrections made will bear fruit since Budapest. 

« We are still in the learning phase, declared the eight-time Grand Prix winner. We have new parts. Problems cannot be solved from one week to the next but we are working to find the solution ». 

On paper, the fast track at Silverstone should suit Imperial Mercedes even better since the start of the season. Verstappen recalls, however, that last year also Red Bull expected to suffer in Northamptonshire so as not to finally have to be ashamed of its performance.

« We thought we were going to take a dance and we were two tenths behind them in qualifying, underlined the Dutchman. There are so many factors to consider. Mercedes is the dominant team and they will be very fast. Who knows ? Maybe we'll be two tenths or maybe a second away: I don't know. I hope that we will not be at a full second but rather around half a second. It would be encouraging ». 

For Red Bull and the interest of fighting for the championship.