Albon: "Midfield has clearly taken a big step forward compared to last year"
If Friday in Sochi has made one thing clear, it is that Red Bull Racing is facing a difficult weekend. There is still time to turn the tide, but the reality is that many other teams here are just very fast. At least that's Alexander Albon's conclusion.
"There are some different things we tried on my and Max's car. Hopefully we can find something good between them," Albon said to Sky Sports. "It feels a bit tricky. We knew it was going to be difficult. Clearly midfield has taken a big step compared to last year, so it's going to be exciting."
Longruns aren't impressive either
According to Albon, therefore, there is nothing wrong with the RB16. Teams such as Renault, McLaren and Racing Point have simply become a lot more competitive. In qualifying we have seen this many times this season, but also during the race the Thai think it will be difficult.
"The car doesn't feel bad, but everyone is just very fast. We need to do some homework and see where we can improve. I also think our longruns are not very impressive. If you're good here over one lap, you're usually good on the longrun and we're missing something in both now."