Albon ready to “annoy Mercedes” in Bahrain after crash comeback

Alex Albon hopes Red Bull can “annoy” Mercedes in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix after recovering from a heavy crash on Friday to join team-mate Max Verstappen on the second row of the grid.

Albon praised his mechanics for working through the night to repair his RB16 but, while qualifying just one position behind Verstappen, the Thai British driver was still six-tenths off the pace of his team-mate which prompted him to admit it takes “the perfect lap” to beat the Dutch driver.

“We’re starting at the front and hopefully we can mingle in and annoy Mercedes,” said Albon. “It was a lot of work for the guys in the garage but they did a really good job to get it up and running for today.

“I was confident in the car. P4 is where we were but at the same time I want to be closer, want to be fighting up a bit more.

“Basically, you have to do a perfect lap to get [Verstappen]. There are little bits everywhere, it’s not one thing. When you’re up against someone quick, it’s these little things.

“There’s not one bit of tarmac he’s not using, he’s on the limit everywhere and it’s just that confidence, it’s being able to push that hard all the time. It’s also about pushing but still keeping the tyres alive, which is really good.”

Despite the crash in second practice, which he admitted left him slightly stunned, Albon maintained his confidence and pushed hard to finish just five-hundredths of a second ahead of fifth-placed Sergio Perez.

Perez has been tipped for the 2021 Red Bull drive should Albon be unable to secure the position for himself, but the Thai British driver is hoping he can hold onto his place so he can continue to use Verstappen to improve his technique.

“What I see is a great way to improve as a driver,” said Albon. “It’s about benchmarking, improving and seeing where the lap time is. It is really good to have Max as a team-mate, to be able to compare and see that.”

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