SpaFrancorchamps
Red Bull team adviser Helmut Marko hit back at Lewis Hamilton’s criticism of Alex Albon and defended Red Bull’s driver line-up as a “good pairing” after the London-born Thai driver’s sixth-placed finish in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Albon, in his first full season as Max Verstappen’s team-mate, has struggled to match the Dutchman’s pace and has remained around four-tenths of a second per lap behind him – a gap that Sunday’s race winner Hamilton believes has undermined Verstappen and Red Bull’s challenge for the titles. Marko, who is head of the Red Bull driver programme that has supplied a stream of racers to both Alpha Tauri, formerly Toro Rosso, and the senior team, defended Albon in the aftermath of Verstappen finishing third behind both Mercedes’ cars to claim his sixth consecutive podium finish.
“I don’t understand the criticism of Albon,” said Marko. “Other team-mates also had a lot of trouble with Max… I don’t see it that Max is pushing him to the limit, but that he is pushing himself. I think we have a good pairing there.” Albon was separated from Verstappen by both Renaults on Sunday while Hamilton was followed home by team-mate Valtteri Bottas in Mercedes’ 50th one-two finish since 2010 in the modern turbo hybrid era.
Asked about the potency of Red Bull’s challenge to the ‘black arrows’ defence of their championship crowns, Hamilton had suggested that Verstappen lacked a team-mate who could match his pace and results. —APP
