86 F1 RACING JANUARY 2020SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SATOCT
2019
1234567891011 1213 14 15 16 17 18 1920 21 22 23 24 25 2627 28 29 30 31STAKING HIS CLAIM
Albon grabbed his chanceand swiftly validated Red Bull’s call. He confesses
now that it triggered the same “question marks and thought
pre-season, but the process” as in
tough nature of his F1 baptism left him feeling well prepared.
Hitting thegroundrunning helped calm nerves early. Albon had a free pass in
Belgium as enginepenalties relegated himto
thebackofthegrid.But as he moved
up theorder,there was little signof the hesita
ncy thathobbledGaslyso badly.
While Albon’s qualifying speed would not prove especially noteworthy over the
next races, he was closer to Verstappen than Gasly tended to be. That
missing theluxury of pre-season in the car, and facing a run of six races fromwas despite
Singapore to Brazil where Albon was experiencing the track for the
hewasconsistently firsttime. Yet
decent, occasionally superb (Japan qualifying) and endearing
himself to the team by asking the right questions and giving good engineering
feedback. Albon drew plenty of admirers – including the world champion.
“It’s a real challenge to go up against a driver [Verstappen] that’s been spoken
so highly of by so many people and built up onto a pedestal,” says Hamilton. “And
to have come in so young, with all the difficul
ties he’s had in his life as well. His
life story is quite an interesting one.”
Albon was giving Red Bull every reason tosign h
im for a full season in 2020.
But hewas hardly counting down the days until a decision, and reckons his
career-long uncertainty helped keep him focused.
“Instability has made me not care about it, in a weird way,” he said.PICTURE
:JOE PORTLOCK