Max Verstappen racing verdict disputed by fellow F1 driver

Williams F1 driver Alex Albon has insisted endurance racing is not a perfect form of racing following high praise from Max Verstappen.

The four-time champion has dipped his toes into endurance competition over the last handful of months, taking part in events around the Nordschleife.

Verstappen is preparing for an entry into the Nurburgring 24-hour race next month as he continues to voice disgruntlement over the current F1 cars, while labelling endurance racing as less political and more about “pure racing”.

Albon, who also has GT experience through the DTM category, admitted he prefers F1 to the endurance and GT division.

“I can say I didn't enjoy it as much as he does,” Albon told media including RacingNews365. “It's different, he enjoys it for many reasons.

“My form of racing was single driver racing in DTM, it's a different experience to endurance racing and sharing a car with other people. 

“It's a different dynamic. I think that's refreshing. I can see the appeal to that, and I think endurance racing in general is really exciting. 

“GT cars themselves - maybe I just had a bad experience of it, but I do prefer an F1 car for the most part. But it is raw.”

However, Albon asserted that endurance competition is still heavily political and not without its own measures that take away from 'pure racing'. 

The Thai driver pointed to the use of Balance of Performance (BoP), which ensures fair competition between leading Hypercar entries in the World Endurance Championship. 

“In many ways, they still have their disadvantages,” he said. “It's still heavily political, and it's very BoP focused. 

“It's not a perfect form of racing, but at the same time, I can see it being enjoyable.”