The move to Red Bull means Albon will have to cope with a lot more external opinions, and the stakes just increased by multiples.
It is the opportunity of a lifetime, but as befits such a chance, it won’t be easy. Apart from Hamilton, Verstappen is probably the toughest yardstick in F1, Albon has to adapt instantly to a new car, and Marko will expect him immediately to exceed Gasly’s level and start to mix it with the other top teams, and boost Red Bull’s chances of beating Ferrari to second in the constructors’ championship.
On top of that, this is sink-or-swim – do well, and Albon will be in a Red Bull next year. Fail, and that F1 chance will likely have passed him by almost as soon as it has been revived.
On the face of it, Spa is not exactly an ideal place to start. It’s one of F1’s most daunting circuits, a true-blood classic, steeped in history and with a succession of demanding, high-speed corners. But Albon has always gelled with high-speed circuits, as he proved at Silverstone.
“I like medium and high-speed stuff,” he says. “It always treats me well.”
He adds: “I love the track at Spa. The conditions can be mixed, but I think I want that in a weird way. I wouldn’t mind a race like Germany again.
“It will be baby steps, really. We’ll build the blocks and then just do our jobs. I will take each session as it comes and see where that leads us for each race.
“I know it’s a step-by-step process, and it will be like that for the rest of the year. It’s not going to come straight away, but I do want results.”
Going up against Verstappen, who has been outstanding for the past 15 months or so, is a big ask, but Albon already has experience of that. They raced against each other in karting in 2010.
“We did the World and European championships together,” Albon said on Thursday, omitting to mention that he won both. “We had a few crashes together. We had a good rivalry going. Max was the young guy, and I was the experienced one. Which is a bit weird. I am a bit older than Max, but he is more experienced in F1. We had some good races.”
