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The Aston Martin Red Bull Racing F1 team continues to support Max Verstappen’s team-mate Alex Albon.
At Spa, where Albon finished sixth, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton said he would enjoy a closer race for the world championship. And Hamilton pointed a finger at Albon.
“People downplay it, but Red Bull has a very, very strong car. Unfortunately, neither driver is there like me and Valtteri (Bottas),” said Hamilton.
Albon’s team-mate Verstappen came third at Spa. He also won a race and is second in the points championship. Albon is fourth in the F1 drivers’ standings, but did not reach a podium or was able to drive with the Mercedes drivers.
Hamilton said having a strong teammate is critical to the championship as well as “playing with strategy”.
Pierre Gasly started 12th before finishing eighth at Spa.
Clive Mason – Formula 1Getty Images
Some believe that a strong candidate to get better alongside Verstappen is driver Albon, who was replaced in the middle of last year, Pierre Gasly who is now fully up to date at AlphaTauri. Gasly finished eighth at Spa and finished in the top 10 in three of the last four races.
Gasly drove for Red Bull in the first half of 2019 before being downgraded to AlphaTauri.
“He’s doing a very good job at Alpha Tauri,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner when asked about Gasly. “They have a good car this year that may be easier to handle than ours, but Alex is great on Sundays. He had another good race today, he’s always strong on attack, so we’re moving in the right direction.”
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, the head of the Red Bull driver program, agrees with Horner.
“I don’t understand the criticism of Albon,” he said. “Other team-mates also had big problems with Max. I don’t see that Max is pushing him to his limits, but that he is pushing himself. I think we have a good pairing there.”
Marko believes Albon will do even better in the next round of car upgrades and explains that the coronavirus situation has resulted in some “instability creeping into the car” in recent developments.
“We’re bringing a new front wing to Monza,” said Marko, and he also hopes that the ban on “party mode” (special settings for high-performance engines) will bring Red Bull even closer to Mercedes in qualifying.
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