Max Verstappen’s former Red Bull teammate Alex Albon has refuted allegations that the team favours the two-time world champion, building the car around the Dutch driver to ensure his success.
Albon previously wrote a piece claiming that a team’s car is “set up in a unique way that is built around the leader driver,” with some believing this was a criticism of Red Bull’s design process.
“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,” Albon stated.
“I mean, when all is said and done, he might be the greatest driver of all time,” he continued.
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“But he has a very distinct style of driving.”
However, the Williams driver has since clarified what he meant when he made the remark.
“I think people get very confused with designing a car around a driver and a driver who’s very, very quick and wants a car a certain way,” Albon said.
“Of course, you’re going to listen to the driver who’s getting the performance in and getting a good job because the potential is more.
“I’m not going to call myself guilty for it but people misinterpret my words where they think what I’m trying to say is the car is built around him.
“No, it’s the fact that he can deal with it and he drives it in a certain way.
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“You’ve got to try and find what he has because at the end of the day he’s making it work. Honestly, that’s the difference.
Albon left Red Bull after two season, taking a step away from the sport after failing to match Verstappen’s success.
The Thai-Brit returned to the sport in 2022 as a replacement for George Russell at Williams, scoring points finishes for the team in three races, while his teammate Nicholas Latifi only managed one top ten result.