Red Bull duo vow to make amends after F1 opener double DNF

Max Verstappen and Alex Albon have vowed to put the lessons learned during the opening round of the 2020 F1 World Championship to better use in Austria this weekend as they prepare for the Styrian Grand Prix.

F1’s first-ever back-to-back event at the same circuit, the format allows for a unique week-to-week direct comparison, something Red Bull is appreciative for after a 2020 opener that showed promise but ultimately delivered nothing in the way of points.

With Verstappen eliminated by a technical issue early on and Albon spun out of a podium result by Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages, the Red Bull drivers were frustrated with the missed opportunities but feel better prepared heading into this weekend.

“In some ways I tried to switch off my thoughts after Sunday’s race and take the positives from the weekend,” Albon, who was fighting for second with Hamilton when they made contact, said. “The car is in a good window, we’ve still got a bit of work to do but we’re there and we can fight – that’s the main thing. The biggest shame is we didn’t capitalise on the race and we didn’t get the points we deserved, but I’m going into the weekend confident.

“I feel like there are areas to improve on in myself and as a Team, but I’m feeling good and ticking down the days to Friday. There will be a slightly different atmosphere this weekend because we know the track and the car, nothing has really changed from the last race, so it will just be about fine tuning things and working on the areas in the car Max and I have been talking about.”

With rain forecast this weekend potentially, Verstappen is hoping it arrives to spice up the action following Mercedes’ clear advantage in the dry.

“I’m looking forward to racing on the same track again this weekend and it’s a good opportunity to get a better understanding of the car. Whatever we found wasn’t perfect last weekend we can improve this week. On the same track I always think it’s quite nice to do a direct comparison, depending on the weather, and hopefully we can do better this time.

“It looks like it could rain this week and I’m not sure anybody knows how competitive they are in the wet with these new cars so that could be interesting. I always enjoy driving in the wet, I don’t mind it, but to be quick you need both the car and driver to be 100%.”