Marko rates Albon debut: He was great!

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has praised the efforts of Alexander Albon following the driver’s debut race for the team at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Over the summer break, Red Bull announced they would be replacing the struggling Pierre Gasly with Albon for the remainder of the 2019 campaign.

The Thai-British driver’s first race for the team was at Spa, where he would, unfortunately, have to contend with a five-place grid penalty after receiving a new engine.

However, he put in a superb effort to finish fifth after starting from 17th, and the performance certainly impressed Marko, who was pleased with his overtaking in particular.

"He was great on the soft tyres, overtaking many people in a great way," the Red Bull chief told ORF.

"Alexander was not able to have the pace that we should have on the straights and we tried to remedy that with the radio, but we did not fully understand each other to make the necessary changes.

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"But especially at the end of the race against Ricciardo, Albon was really great. Of course, he was a little lucky to be fifth, but it was still great."

The comments from Marko echoed those of his colleague, team principal Christian Horner, who also praised Albon’s weekend.

"Alex has impressed me all weekend with his approach, his feedback, his pace. In the race he did a very mature job,” he said.

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