Verstappen verdict delivered in comparison to 'raw dogfight' with Hamilton

Alex Albon believes former Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen delivered a tactical masterclass in winning a fourth F1 title the Williams driver has said was the Dutchman's "best".

Albon spent a season and a half alongside Verstappen at Red Bull before being demoted and a year on the sidelines in 2021 as test and reserve driver for Red Bull and AlphaTauri.

That year Albon had a grandstand seat as Verstappen went toe to toe with Lewis Hamilton as the then-Mercedes driver chased a record eighth drivers' championship, only for the Briton to be denied on the final lap of the last race.

Following the introduction of the ground-effect era in 2022, Verstappen eventually coasted to the title that year before delivering the most dominant season in F1 history the following campaign.

Last year, however, proved a different story. Verstappen was forced to dig deep and fight for results after a stunning start, winning seven of the first 10 grands prix.

A run of 10 without a victory followed, allowing McLaren's Lando Norris a small window of opportunity before Verstappen rose to the occasion late on to score a fourth consecutive crown.

"I think it was his best one," said Albon, speaking to RacingNews365, of Verstappen's 2024 triumph.

"His 2021 year was special but it was a dogfight, whereas this one...it was nice in a way because I felt you could see the skill Max has, not just in terms of one-lap performance or whatever, but also race craft, weekend management, all those kind of things.

"When you saw the car wasn't quite there, he was still putting away good results, not letting Lando close the gap throughout the year. That, to me, was impressive.

"You can see, in some ways, there was experience and a maturity, whereas, in 2021, it was a bit more raw, and you could see that against Lewis, it was a raw dogfight, whereas this was a bit more tactical.

"It felt like he was seeing things from a bigger picture, but still executing and having great quali laps and whatnot, so it was a very strong year. [I was] Really impressed. 

"If he'd had no competition, you wouldn't have seen that, so it was nice for him to get that competition so people could actually see what he's capable of."