Lack of qualifying pace continues to puzzle Albon

Red Bull driver Alex Albon has said he wanted more from qualifying after ending the session sixth but seven tenths down on team-mate Max Verstappen.

The Thai-British driver put his RB16 scored his second-best qualifying result of the season, but still was a distance behind Verstappen.

Albon was also out-qualified by both Racing Point cars, with Sergio Perez fourth and Lance Stroll fifth.

At a track where overtaking is difficult, Albon knows his lack of pace in qualifying could cost him points in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

"Not great but it was okay," he told Sky Sports F1 when analysing his Saturday afternoon.

"Obviously wanted a bit more from that. I actually felt better on the used tyres on the first run than on the second run, so we'll just have to take a look at that and see what's going on."

Track temperatures rose to 50 degrees again on Saturday and the same expected for the race. This could advantage Red Bull, as the team was able to come out on top in similarly hot conditions at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

On the occasion, others suffered with blistering, but Albon does not expect a repeat performance at the Circuit de Catalunya.

He added: "I think here, the [tyre] deg is a bit more aggressive. Last weekend was more about blisters, here it's about pure deg.

"We hope others run into blister issues and we don't. Otherwise, if it's a pure deg race it won't be as clear, I think. The Mercs will be really strong."

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