Albon: I just want more confidence

One of the most lopsided teammate battles on the grid, Verstappen leads Albon 128-64 in the driver's standings, with a 10-0 head-to-head record in qualifying and a 7-0 lead in races.

As a result Albon's future with the team has been cast into serious doubt by observers, and while the Thai has denied he is in danger of losing his seat, he does admit he needs to make serious progress.

Asked by Autosport just how he can make ground on his teammate, Albon suggested he needed to learn how to handle a car which by Red Bull's own admission, is not the easiest to drive.

"It's hard to really pinpoint truthfully," he admitted. "I just want more confidence.

"I think for Max, he's on the limit all the way through the corner.

"And he's definitely not afraid of it moving around on him. You can watch a qualifying lap of Max and you can see how how he's hustling it.

"Me, getting up to speed with that and being on the limit of the car: that's what I need. It's that feeling of being able to be just sliding it in every corner throughout the whole phase.

"But it's not like a big thing here or there, it's just a global feeling of being confident in the car."

Elaborating further, Albon explained that he couldn't necessarily persist with making setup changes so the car more closely suited his driving style, as it risked diminishing the inherent pace in the Adrian Newey-designed chassis.

"You've got to find a middle ground," he explains. "A quick car doesn't necessarily mean it's a comfortable car.

"You've got to be able to use it and be on the limit of where the car needs be set to, to get the most from it. So it's a compromise.

"And it's just time in the car, really. I know we're midway through the season now, but it's still a relatively new feeling in the team with the car.

"Max has been here for what, five years now. He's kind of been able to develop and have a driving style around it, where of course for me it is still figuring it out, and still learning and working with my engineers just to exploit it and get the most out of it."

In an effort to help reverse his fortunes, Red Bull brought back former Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo race engineer Simon Rennie to do the same for Albon, with the Thai indicating it is a sign of commitment the team has made to him.

"I'd say experience wise, Simon brings a lot, especially with radio communication and things like that. He is really on the ball with that.

"He obviously has experience and he knows the people here as well in terms of whether it's Rocky [Guillaume Rocquelin, head of race engineering] or Pedals [chief engineer, Paul Monaghan].

"It's a good environment here at the team. There's a lot of support here, and there's a high positive morale constantly, which is nice."