Max Verstappen isn’t interested in having a say on who will be his Red Bull teammate in 2020.
The Dutchman has asserted himself as the clear lead driver at the Milton Keynes outfit this season, while first Pierre Gasly and now Alex Albon have stepped up to fill the seat vacated by Daniel Ricciardo.
Asked his thoughts on the two drivers, Verstappen said on Thursday: “[Albon is] good, I enjoy working with him, he’s very relaxed, but it’s no different to Pierre,” he told Crash.net.
“I also really liked working with Pierre, he’s also a really nice guy. I’m actually really happy that Pierre now at Toro Rosso and he had a good performance in Singapore, so for sure that makes him also more comfortable.
“But coming back to Alex, so far, I think we drive the car in pretty similar ways. Everyone has their own style, but I think we are both looking for the same thing. That is also important for the team.”
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As for whether he would be giving his opinion to Red Bull though, Verstappen added: “It’s up to them. I’m not the deciding factor.
“I also don’t want to be at the end of the day because I don’t mind who is sitting next to me.
“They are the bosses, so they decide. I’m not a deciding factor in that.”
Albon has made a solid start in his three races since stepping up to Red Bull, scoring top six places on each occasion, and he downplayed any talk of pressure when it came to making his case for the seat full-time.
“It’s all been good. Firstly it’s a lot of support,” he said of his first month with the team. “They’ve been letting me find my feet and learn from the team. They are very open to me, asking questions and all that kind of thing.
“I know there’s a lot of people thinking there’s a lot of pressure but there really isn’t at the moment. It’s just a lot of learning and that kind of thing, not really focused on next year and all that kind of talk.”
As for how he’d rate his performances next to Verstappen.
“If anything Spa and Monza, especially Monza, was closer than Singapore but the track leads it to that. It hasn’t been bad,” he assessed.
“Like anything you want to be improving and it’s getting there for sure. It’s still a work in progress really, but as I said, we are coming back to a track now where it is a little bit more familiar and we will keep going.
“There are always bits in the weekend where I feel I am getting better in, even in the races, and it’s always like once the weekend is over I know what I could have done better in that situation. It’s good to know and we’ll see.”