Pink Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko says he blames Lewis Hamilton for ‘dampening’ Alex Albon’s profession in Formulation 1.
Thai-British driver Albon got here by means of the ranks of Pink Bull’s younger driver program, overseen by Marko, earlier than making the step up from the sister Toro Rosso workforce to hitch the principle Pink Bull squad alongside Max Verstappen midway by means of the 2019 season.
Regardless of scoring two podiums in his 18-months with the workforce, Albon struggled to provide something the just like the tempo Verstappen produced in the identical equipment, and was dropped forward of the 2021 season in favour of Sergio Perez.
The 26-year-old spent a yr on the sidelines as Pink Bull’s check and improvement driver earlier than returning to the grid with backmarkers Williams this yr, changing George Russell after his transfer to Mercedes, although he retains contractual hyperlinks with Pink Bull.
Hamilton made contact with Albon twice on observe through the latter’s time with Pink Bull, selecting up a pair of five-second penalties for knocking him off the highway in Brazil in 2019 and Austria in 2020. Marko, identified for making destructive feedback about Hamilton on an virtually weekly foundation, says the seven-time world champion is guilty for Albon’s downturn in type.
‘Lewis Hamilton didn’t destroy his profession, however he did put a dampener on it, he stated in an interview with Pink Bull’s in-house digital journal The Pink Bulletin.
‘[Albon] was in second place in Brazil in 2019 when Hamilton drove him off the observe. Then Alex needed to cross Hamilton on the skin on the Pink Bull Ring in 2020 however acquired pushed onto the gravel. He would have gained that race, however he got here away empty-handed. He took a very long time to recover from that.’
Marko’s blunt feedback are infamous within the F1 paddock, and he additionally made disparaging feedback about Albon’s character in the identical interview.
‘Alex may be very quick, however I'm wondering if he’s too good,’ Marko added. ‘He’s a bit like David Coulthard, who everybody likes, however wasn’t robust sufficient in the long run.’
Albon has impressed on his return to full-time racing, scoring three factors whereas driving the slowest automobile within the subject.
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