Alex Albon offers 'extreme' theory why Max Verstappen team-mates struggle at Red Bull

Alex Albon believes the "extreme" difference between the Red Bull and Racing Bulls cars could be a reason why team-mates fail to match Max Verstappen. 

Since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull in 2018, Pierre Gasly, Albon, Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and now Yuki Tsunoda have all failed to match Verstappen, often leaving Red Bull fighting as an effective one-car team. 

Of those drivers, only Perez was not promoted from the junior team in its Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri, and now Racing Bulls guises, with the Faenza squad traditionally used to develop young drivers for the senior team, such as Verstappen himself.

Albon, who was promoted to replace Gasly halfway through his 2019 rookie season, lasted until the end of 2020 before he was dispensed with for Perez in '21, has previously spoken of the sharpness Verstappen demands from his car and the inability of drivers to match this. 

Reflecting on the situation as incumbent Tsunoda's position is under threat, Albon explained the fundamental difference between the Red Bull and Racing Bulls cars.

"I think the cars are on a knife edge, and Max can drive it," Albon told media, including RacingNews365. 

"Obviously, I can speak from experience, and I struggled with it, and I think with the experience I have now, I'd be able to get around it, but it is not something which feels natural to most drivers. 

"What you are seeing now and my own interpretation of it is that the RB is quite a forgiving car, in 2019 it was quite well-balanced and very stable and gives you a lot of confidence.

"Naturally, it has become that kind of car because they always have rookies in that car, so the foundations of the team is built on young drivers, and then the Red Bull is almost the extreme. 

"You are going from one of the most forgiving cars to the most tricky in the most simple sense, and you have to adapt quite a lot to two very different cars.

"The driving side is a part of it, but the bigger part of it is understanding the cars, the tyres, the engineering and your own driving style as well.

"These kinds of things, when you are a young driver, even in F1, you are still discovering what makes the car click, what makes me click and what compromises you can make with the car. 

"It is clear Max can drive that car, and he likes it that particular way, it is supposed to be the quickest way, and he gets on with it and can get lap-time out of it. 

"So there is a bit of that going on, and also the simplest thing is dealing with the nose of being that number two driver. It is not easy for a young driver."