Alex Albon Reveals Why Red Bull F1 Juniors Falter in Senior Team

Alex Albon understands firsthand how tough it can be for drivers to move from Red Bull’s junior squad to the main Formula 1 team. Five races into his time at Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda is still searching for competitive results after replacing Liam Lawson, who only had two races in the seat.

Image credit: www.formula1.com

Struggles like these have been seen before, ever since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull at the end of 2018. Ricciardo, unlike most of his successors, was able to challenge Max Verstappen closely on track, but after the team’s response to a collision in Baku in 2018, he decided to join Renault for the 2019 season.

Since Ricciardo’s exit, Red Bull has tried several drivers from its junior program in the second seat, but only Sergio Perez lasted more than a season. Albon, who took over from Pierre Gasly at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, found his own promotion a difficult adjustment.

After two podiums, he lost his F1 seat at the end of 2020. This week before the Canadian Grand Prix, Albon shared his thoughts on what makes the main Red Bull car so challenging.

He explained that the Racing Bulls car, previously known as Toro Rosso, gives drivers a lot of confidence due to its well-balanced and stable characteristics. It’s intentionally more forgiving, partly because it’s designed for rookie drivers who need time to learn and build confidence in Formula 1 machinery.

Albon says the senior Red Bull car is a complete contrast, calling it “on a knife edge.” He believes Max Verstappen can handle it well, but the car is much trickier and less forgiving.

For drivers moving up, this means quickly adapting to a vehicle that requires a different approach and has little tolerance for mistakes. Today’s ground-effect cars, introduced in recent years, add to this challenge.

The new cars run closer to the ground and are more stiffly suspended, leading to a sudden shift in handling from understeer to oversteer, catching drivers off guard. Although rookie drivers get less time for testing these days, Tsunoda is already experienced and will make his 100th grand prix start this weekend, passing the number of races competed by legends like Sir Jackie Stewart.

Image credit: www.redbull.com

However, rumors about Tsunoda getting extra testing in Barcelona were clarified—it was a Pirelli tire development session for 2026, not additional seat time to help him adapt. Tsunoda has worked long hours in the simulator at Red Bull’s Milton Keynes base, but he admits that the car’s behavior in real life is much less predictable than what the simulator suggests.

For Tsunoda and other juniors, the only true path to improvement may be getting as much real time as possible in the RB21, hoping to build comfort with its limits. This depends on how patient the Red Bull team is willing to be.

Albon believes that with more experience now, he could handle the step up better, but says for most drivers, the Red Bull is still one of the most unnatural-feeling cars on the grid. If the pattern continues, finding a driver to regularly match Verstappen at Red Bull may remain one of the most difficult tasks in modern Formula 1.

Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller reports on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends with race-day analysis, team-radio highlights, and point-standings updates. He explains power-unit upgrades, aerodynamic developments, and driver rivalries in straightforward, SEO-friendly language for a global F1 audience.