“I Just Gave My Honest Opinion”: Max Verstappen Weighs in on Decision to Axe Albon From Red Bull

Max Verstappen helped Red Bull end the 2020 season on a high. He drove his strongest race in the season finale and won quite comfortably. Meanwhile, Alexander Albon finished the final race at P4.

The season was Albon’s chance to prove himself worthy of a Red Bull seat. Unfortunately, the Thai driver failed to deliver to the expectations of the team and Red Bull made their decision to let Albon go.

After waiting for a really long time, Red Bull finally confirmed their second driver for the next season. Sergio Perez will replace Alex Albon next season as the latter takes the role of a test/reserve driver.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen shared his views on Albon.  He said, “Of course we spoke about it and I just gave my honest opinion.”

“I think it was quite clear that throughout the whole year it was sometimes quite tricky for Alex – he’s a great guy, honestly, and I’m happy that he’s part of the team,” Verstappen expressed.

“But at the end of the day obviously it’s Helmut [Marko] and Christian [Horner] and Dietrich [Mateschitz] making the decisions. Of course I knew a bit before but at the end of the day, that doesn’t matter,” he further added.

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Max Verstappen hopes Perez will help push the team forward

All season, Verstappen was the sole driver on the grid trying to constantly split the Mercedes cars. Albon was driving the same machine but was unable to make the same impact, and Verstappen hopes Perez’s arrival will shake things up a little.

He explained, “I hope that Checo will be the one first of all, of course, to push the whole team forward. But also keep me on my toes, which is always nice, to have a team mate pushing you, it’s exciting.”

“Then hopefully we can, with a bit more of a competitive car from the start, make it just a bit more interesting and difficult for [Mercedes] to make decisions,” Verstappen concluded.

Verstappen missed the P2 position by just nine points but is confident that he will again split the Mercedes next season. The combination of Perez and Verstappen will surely put significant pressure on the Silver Arrows.

It will certainly be interesting to witness how Mercedes deals with the new and exciting Red Bull pair.