“You absolutely deserve it, you absolutely deserve it”. Alexander Albon thus broke through i eardrums by Max Verstappen after the checkered flag waved in Abu Dhabi at the end of the race held at the Yas Marina circuit. Albon shared the Red Bull garage for a season and a half with the Dutchman and then in 2021 he had to settle for the role of reserve driver working on the simulator as the Milton Keynes team decided to focus on Sergio Perez, who remained free on the market for pilots and captured by Helmut Marko, who thus disavowed his youth program. This choice, however, was amply rewarded also in Abu Dhabi, given that Sergio Perez’s defense was fundamental to steal from Hamilton the seconds that would have been necessary to make the pit stop without losing the lead to Max. Verstappen.
Albon at the end of the race exploded at the Red Bull wall brutally entering Verstappen’s earphones to express his joy. Even in the cold, however, the Thai-born driver is convinced that Max deserved the luck that manifested itself in the form of a Safety Car in the grand finale of the season: “I’m not very religious, but I believe that Karma has had a hand in Abu Dhabi. I’ve never met a rider with so much natural speed, he has a driving style that gives him an edge “. Verstappen’s roadmap in 2021 is indeed impressive: in addition to ten victories Max collected eight second places, retiring in Baku due to the sudden failure of a tire, at Silverstone and Monza due to collisions with Hamilton and finishing in ninth. place in Hungary, race disputed in enormous pain after the contact at the start with Lando Norris, dynamic in which both were guilty as pins hit by Valtteri Bottas, author of an error in braking.
In 2022 Albon will once again be the protagonist on the track at the wheel of the Williams, stables where he picked up the baton left by his friend George Russell. Albon hopes to retrace the footsteps of Kvyat and Ocon, both very performing on their return as owners after a season spent behind the scenes in Ferrari and Mercedes respectively: “In a year as a reserve driver I have learned a lot, I am sure I will be more ready than in the past in 2022”.
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