Christijan Albers was very annoyed by the reporting from Great Britain during the Australian Grand Prix weekend. Max Verstappen has dominated in recent seasons, and so many neutral fans were not too sad that the world champion dropped out. However, Albers believes that the bias in England was clearly noticeable in the commentary.
Verstappen did not have an ideal start to the weekend. The 26-year-old Red Bull Racing driver damaged his floor in the first free practice session, and started later in the second session, missing an opportunity to complete a long run. Red Bull did this race simulation on Saturday in the third free practice, but the team was struggling with graining, something that Sergio Pérez also had a hard time with on Sunday.
Red Bull has no chance without Verstappen
It didn’t get that far for Verstappen: the Dutchman had problems with his right rear brake from the start, and eventually had to give up after four laps. Pérez finished fifth in no man’s land. “I actually thought it was a fun race,” says Albers in the De Telegraaf podcast. ‘It’s a shame for Max, because you never want a driver to fail like that. Especially that Red Bull, it is so reliable. This just goes to show that it is a mechanical sport.”
Just like in Singapore last year, it was once again Carlos Sainz who ended Verstappen’s winning streak. During the race, only the Ferrari and McLaren drivers seemed to have a chance of a podium spot. “This also proves that if you don’t have Max, or at least a super talent, in your team, and you have a second driver who cannot match that, you will get a result that you did not expect,” he said. the analyst points out the dependence on Verstappen.
British not objective
Albers was a bit surprised by the analyzes in Great Britain, both when Verstappen was still in the race and after Verstappen’s retirement. ‘You hear, especially from English commentators, that Verstappen was overtaken by Sainz. That was absolutely not the case,” the former team boss and Formula 1 driver makes his opinion clear.
“If you have such a big problem with the brake disc at the right rear, you cannot slow down the car, so you will slide,” continues Albers, who links Sainz’s overtaking action to the braking problem. ‘Afterwards I was also a bit surprised that the trend was that Carlos Sainz had passed by. That wasn’t quite the case. The reality was that Max lost his position because the temperature in the right rear rose. That’s the real reason.’
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