Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner was impressed with Alex Albon’s recovery in the Russian Grand Prix, labelling it a “mature” drive.

Albon had a difficult qualifying session on Saturday, crashing in Q1 at Turn 13 after being caught out by a tailwind.

As a result of the crash, the Thai driver started the race from the pitlane, but he worked his way through the field to eventually cross the line fifth, one place behind his team-mate Max Verstappen.

Speaking after the race Horner said: “It was a good performance from both of our drivers today.

“For Max, P4 was the maximum on the table having started from P9 and he made some great moves early in the race to move up the order.

“Meanwhile Alex, who started from the pit lane, performed well to make his way through the field, making some great overtakes in what was another mature drive.

“To finish up in P5 was an impressive race from him and fourth and fifth was probably the maximum achievable for us today.”

Albon was also happy with how his race went, especially as he was able to score a decent haul of points after a disastrous qualifying session.

“I wanted to bounce back and get a good result after yesterday’s crash so I’m really happy with how the race went.” added Albon.

“Morale was obviously a little bit low on Saturday night and it was a lot of work for the Team so this result is for them.

“Starting from the pit lane was never going to be easy but the pace was quite strong on the softs and it was a good haul of points.”

With it being another weekend where Albon has had to put together a recovery drive, having starting further down the grid due to penalties at previous races, the rookie acknowledges that he needs to focus on getting up to speed earlier in the weekend.

“Up to the race it had been a tough weekend but I’m getting more comfortable.” commented the Red Bull driver.

“I just need to get up to speed and in a rhythm earlier on in the weekend, but that will come with more laps and time in the car.”