Red Bull’s outgoing Albon says he has improved in 2020, a season he feels had “some good things,” among them fighting for a win in Austria.
Albon was said to have underperformed in F1 2020, perhaps more so than he did in 2019 as his pace deficit, though no larger than in the year prior, was exacerbated by a more competitive mid-field.
The Thai driver finished the season with 105 points, enough to place him seventh in the championship despite being 109 points off of his teammate Max Verstappen. It was a comprehensive defeat, but one that Albon nonetheless feels he improved in.
The 24-year-old attributes “a few DNFs” (of which there were only two to Verstappen’s five) and some particularly poor performances with his defeat. “I mean it was okay,” said Albon to media including F1, Motorsport Network, Racefans.net and more.
“Not obviously what I would have wanted going into it. But otherwise, you know, there’s still some good things there. And yeah, similar to Max, just had a few DNFs, had some bad races, but feeling like I’ve improved since last year.
“But still more to go, still more to focus on,” Albon said, before adding that his greatest area of improvement was in mentality, as he gained a better understanding of the sport. “I mean, just as a driver mentally as well, being more in control of what’s going on in terms of myself and just understanding F1 one better, speaking with engineers and even externally as well,” he said.
Albon succeeded in 2020 in spite of a challenging RB16, which he says gave him trouble in the beginning of the year, even if it was perhaps not outright uncompetitive as he was able to will it into contention for podiums and even wins during the season.
He adds that the rear of the car was troublesome early in the year, but that development saw the car improve drastically – even until the final few rounds. “We were also fighting for the win on the first race so it wasn’t all doom and gloom,” said Albon.
“But, I think, especially in the beginning it was a bit tricky. The rear end of the car, to begin with, but even till the last couple of races, it was just been getting better and better,” said the London-born Thai driver concluded ahead of a 2021 season on the sidelines, with Sergio Perez replacing him.
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