Alex Albon, who was recently confirmed as a Williams driver for next year, is currently employed by Red Bull as a test driver. He was Max Verstappen’s teammate last year but was replaced by Sergio Perez for this year. While Perez has won a race with Red Bull, many feel that he hasn’t provided the sort of backup in the championship that Red Bull need from him. Some have suggested that Albon may derive pleasure from Perez’s struggles. Albon has now responded to this while speaking to Auto Hebdo

I'm your host Tyler and first up on Formula World:

Link to poll: https://www.youtube.com/post/UgzxWq4_NQ7SH8Ol81h4AaABCQ
0:00 - What Alex Albon Thinks About Sergio Perez’s Struggles At Red Bull
1:59 - Fast Feed

Albon began by speaking about returning to F1 next year

“I am very happy and grateful for this opportunity to come back. Looking from the pit wall is never easy. It's complicated to manage. But this year has allowed me to take a step back to analyze the situation and learn from the experience of last year”

He then spoke about how his F1 return came to be

“It's thanks to you, journalists! It was you who kept mentioning my name. On my side, there were discussions, but there were also other names circulating. Things went quickly from the moment we learned that a seat would surely be released in Williams with the departure of George”

He then revealed if he finds any comfort in Perez having a hard time at Red Bull this year

“The comments Perez makes are similar to how I looked at it last year. But I don’t look at it as comforting me in any way that he’s also having a hard time because I want the best for the team. It’s about Red Bull performing in the World Championship”

“I prefer to help him by sharing my experience and my knowledge of the car with him, that way he can adapt as quickly as possible. The car has improved compared to 2020, but it is still a struggle”

He signed off by comparing last year’s Red Bull to this year’s car while being glad about returning next year

“It’s hard to say that, but this year’s car is better than last year’s. I feel like I’ve learned things about last season. I’ve looked back on my previous seasons and I’m glad I’m getting another chance to show what I’m worth”


Fast Feed

FIA race director Michael Masi has explained that “you can’t compare [the crashes in Silverstone and Monza] at all, you’ve got two cars taken out in one incident, versus one car taken out in another incident” [Autosport]

“So you know, as in they stopped, they could not continue to serve the penalty is what I’m trying to explain. So a grid penalty, as we’ve seen, is what’s applied for this year, as we’ve agreed with all of the teams, is applied for when someone doesn’t continue”

“I’m not going to get into the games. We have a very close, exciting championship between two fantastic drivers. And that’s the part we should all be focusing on”, he summed up

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto feels that “it’s a shame that there are so few options in Formula 1” [Motorsport Total]

“If a driver is really good, he will always find an opportunity somehow. But in the process, we need to help rookies get into Formula One”

“There are always discussions between the teams, Formula 1 and the FIA about how we can help them with more sessions, extra test days or participation in race weekends. We need to have those discussions too. And we need to get the young drivers into our cars”

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez has explained that “little by little I follow my own path. I am testing different things and trying to make it work” [Motorsport]

“Because we have so little driving time it’s just hard to try different directions during the same race weekend and that’s of course what you want”

“Anyway, the whole process has been a lot harder because we have so little time in the car this year”, he concluded

Former F1 driver Marc Surer feels that Haas’ Nikita Mazepin “has become spoiled because of [getting to test with two-year-old Mercedes cars prior to his F1 debut]” [Formel 1]

This is “because with a Mercedes many drivers can drive fast. That might have made him think; ‘Formula 1 is not that difficult’”

“However, then he goes from the best car on the grid, to the worst, and of course that is tough”

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo wanted to “remind people that [he hasn’t] forgotten [how to do it]” [BBC]

“I was in control and I just wanted to show it was the last lap and I am not feeling any of the nerves or pressure so I am going to do my fastest lap of the race on the last lap, just to remind people”, he explained

Retired world champion Alain Prost pointed out that F1 has lost “some big sponsors, when I was there we had the cigarettes, the alcohol, so we lost this big amount of money” [Prost in the paddock podcast]

“We need to get some revenue, so that was the reason. Increasing the number of races is not stupid at all, but there is always a limit”


Are there too many races on the F1 calendar?