The Grove team switched its R&D focus to next year’s some months ago and had not brought any new parts to the track, while rivals AlphaTauri, Haas and Alfa Romeo have continued to develop their cars.
In the last two races, AlphaTauri has scored 11 points and jumped from 10th to eighth in the table, and the team now lies 12 points behind Williams.
Albon accepts that there remains a chance that the Faenza outfit could close the gap over the last three weekends of the season.
"I think the threat is very real,” said Albon when asked by Autosport about AlphaTauri’s surge in the fight for seventh place.
“They put on their upgrade, and I think straight away made a big step, and at the same time, they seemed to unlock it more and more through the year.
“So they've overtaken us in terms of pace, that it's pretty clear. They've gone to a couple of tracks, and I think this track will be another example, that suit their car quite well. They seem to be very strong in low-speed corners. So it's going be tough.
“The last few races are more about holding on than anything else. But you don't want to have that mindset. You still want to be aggressive and push on. But it will be tricky.”
Source: Autosport