Marko explains where the 'problem' lies with Albon

Alexander Albon does not perform on an equal footing with Max Verstappen, and although that is by no means a requirement, the differences seem to be too great. As a result, criticism of Albon from the media is increasing, but Red Bull Racing does not agree. On several occasions Horner and Marko have already spoken up for the Thai-Brit, but what exactly are the differences? Team advisor Helmut Marko gives an explanation.

Could have won

Albon was on the podium during the first race in Austria, but as in Brazil he was knocked off the track by Lewis Hamilton. In the end he dropped out, where Verstappen was confronted with technical issues quite early in the race. That race is where it all started for Albon, says Marko in conversation with MotorsportMagazin.com.

"It started at the point where he would have won the race in Austria before the turnaround. That's a matter of self-confidence." But that's not all that matters, because the material offered by Red Bull was not as promising as it seemed at the factory either.

"On the other hand," says Marko. "We started the season with a chassis whose wind tunnel data showed downforce values that were not achieved in reality. Then we tried to get that problem under control with a lot of experimentation and effort."

Different cars

Due to the short period of time between races it was not possible to provide both cars with identical new parts. "This meant that Albon did not start with the same material in most of the races. This went so far that we tried different things during practice sessions and he had to deal with different suspension settings."

So Albon has had to deal with a lot of variation, can be interpreted from Marko's words. Of course, that doesn't help if a stable basis has to be found. Something that Verstappen can clearly deal with better, but that is also a piece of experience, Marko concludes.

"And of course this is his second season. He is in a top team and he has Verstappen as a team mate, where we have seen that even established Grand Prix winners had a difficult time", Marko repeats earlier statements.