Alex Albon says he isn’t listening to criticism coming his way from outside Red Bull after comments by Lewis Hamilton on Sunday.
After Mercedes cruised to another one-two finish in Belgium, the six-time champion suggested Max Verstappen was “on his own” at Red Bull making it harder for the Dutchman to put pressure on the Brackley-based team.
Indeed, at Spa, Albon started fifth and finished sixth after a race-long battle with the Renaults, which saw him fall behind Esteban Ocon on the final lap.
But on the weekend that marked his first anniversary as a Red Bull driver, the UK-born Thai insists the external comparisons to his teammate don’t bother him.
“I’d say 95 percent of it, I just don’t check it,” he said. “People can say what they want about me, I don’t care what people think, I have my own version of how things went.
“All I know is that after a Saturday, let’s say a bad Saturday, Sunday after a good nights’ sleep I’m raring to go and I can put it behind me pretty well and get on with the job.”
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Further helping Albon ignore the criticism is the backing he gets from Red Bull, who continue to stand by him.
“I feel a lot of support, I really feel like they want me to do well,” he said.
“of course I want to as well, so I feel really good inside [the Red Bull programme]. They know it’s not easy and we are trying to make it work, that is the goal obviously.
“And I know once it works and I start to feel more comfortable that’s really when everything will pick up.”
Highlighting that support is comments made by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who is notorious for speaking his mind.
“I don’t understand the criticism of Albon,” he was quoted by GPToday.
“Other teammates also had a lot of problems with Verstappen. I don’t see Max pushing him to the limit, but pushing himself. I think we have a good combination there.”
One of those “other teammates” continuing to make his case for a potential future return to Red Bull is Pierre Gasly, who has out-qualified Albon on three occasions this season.
“He’s doing very well at AlphaTauri,” Marko said of the Frenchman. “They have a good car this year that might be easier to drive.
“But Alex is doing great on Sunday. He had a good race again, he is always strong on the attack, so we are going in the right direction.”