'The most comfortable I've felt in the car' - Albon happy with F1 qualifying

Alexander Albon says this weekend in Abu Dhabi is the most comfortable he's felt while driving for Red Bull in F1 2020.

Albon qualified fifth in Abu Dhabi, just 0.325s behind Red Bull teammate and polesitter Max Verstappen.

The Thai driver was just over a tenth off pole after the first runs in Q3 but a mistake at Turn 1 on his second run meant he was unable to improve and was ultimately beaten by the McLaren of Lando Norris.

The 24-year-old believes it was one of his strongest qualifying performances for Red Bull.

“If you lay it all down it’s probably one of the best qualifying sessions I’ve had this year,” Albon said. “It feels like things have been going on the up. This weekend started pretty strong and it’s just been getting better and better. Obviously, we’ve made some changes to the car throughout the year.

“I think this weekend is the most comfortable I’ve felt in the car which sounds strange obviously been the last race of the year. It’s the case and I think I could properly exploit the grip of it. In a weird way, it’s also very frustrating because Q3 on run one was good. I just went wide at Turn 1, not wide like you’d think like it would cost me much lap time but these tyres are so sensitive and I basically spun the tyres on the astroturf and from that point on the rears were too hot, some hot rears for the rest of the lap.

“I think everyone improved pretty much apart from me which is a shame as I said but on a more positive note, it was a competitive session for me. We’re P5 but it’s weirdly tight this weekend. In a normal weekend that would have been a good one.”

After struggling for much of the season, Albon felt he was finally on top of the Red Bull RB16.

“It just felt like it clicked a bit more,” Albon added. “Sometimes you can do a lap and you feel like it’s a good lap in terms of driving but the lap time isn’t there. This weekend it’s felt when I’ve done a good lap we’ve been competitive when I’ve not done a good lap I am a little bit off.

“We’re still more or less there which has been nice. It’s not obviously something I am normally used to having. It’s just been a good weekend working with the engineers and there’s been so much work we’ve been doing behind the scenes with simulator stuff, with meetings to try and get a better feeling for the car and for me to unlock it. It just felt like we have been getting better and better with it.

“It’s not necessarily an easy circuit, there’s lots of different types of corners here so to be able to have a fairly competitive weekend has been very promising.”