Albon wants to make “good foundations ready for 2020” at Red Bull

After the uncertainty around his future throughout the past 12 months, Alexander Albon has relative security at Red Bull which he wants to use as early preparation for next year.

Following the confirmation Albon would be staying at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen for 2020, having swapped places with Pierre Gasly midway through this season, the British-Thai driver has impressed adapting at the Milton Keynes team despite the midseason switch.

After cruelly being denied a potential maiden Formula 1 podium in the closing laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix due to a collision caused by Lewis Hamilton, Albon has been closing the gap on his fellow front-runners and wants to continue this trend at the end of 2019 going into next season.

“It’s more just carrying on what I’ve done. I haven’t done any changes in terms of my thought process until the end of the year,” Albon said during the Brazilian GP weekend. “In the back of my head it’s still all about keep developing and getting ready for next year.

“Next year I’ll know the tracks more and I’ll be more experienced, so it’s making sure I have a good foundation ready for 2020.”

In a whirlwind 12 months for Albon, who has effectively gone from ditching a Nissan Formula E drive to joining Toro Rosso in F1 before promotion to Red Bull, the 23-year-old feels the instability hasn’t had a negative impact on his own development but is relishing the chance of building time and experience at Red Bull.

“You are never going to feel completely settled until you drive a car for the first time,” he said. “I don’t think that exists actually.

“But of course the more you feel comfortable with the team the more the lap time comes and it’s only normal when you first jump in the car to feel that way.

“Once you get to know the team and the car, that’s really where the performance comes from when you can really start to push the car and the team in the direction that you want to go.”