Alex Albon replacement: Two former Force India drivers and pals are in line to replace Alex Albon at Red Bull for the 2021 season.
Alex Albon’s time at Red Bull is certainly up, after the debacle in yesterday’s Emilia Romagna GP at Imola. Helmut Marko can still give the Thai all the time he wants, but it is bound to happen now. Former F1 racer and Sky F1 expert Martin Brundle seconds this opinion in his column. Brundle does on to say that Albon “shouldn’t even complain” if he loses the seat.
”Albon, unfortunately, has no support and it was another difficult race for him who finished fifteenth, after losing a duel and then his car in the Villeneuve-chicane.
”I don’t enjoy it at all and perhaps even bother to say that if he loses his seat, he shouldn’t even complain.”
Christian Horner on the Alex Albon troubles
The Red Bull team principal gave reasons for Albon’s failure to finish on points at Imola, calling it “unfortunate”. But it doesn’t take away the fact that he has been poor all season, and needs to regroup. A move to AlphaTauri alongside Pierre Gasly would be brilliant for him. But with Yuki Tsunoda doing well in F2, things could get even messier for Albon.
“For Alex, it’s a difficult one because he was in a race with Charles and Daniel all afternoon, stuck in a bit of a train, and then at the re-start, he tried to cover the cars behind who’d just had a free stop for new tyres under the safety car, and he lost it at the second chicane. It’s incredibly unfortunate to come away from this weekend with zero points but we’ll build back up for Turkey, a track we had good success at last time out.”
Who can replace Alex Albon at Red Bull?
Horner concluded by congratulating Mercedes for their Championship win, but with a caveat at the end – Red Bull will challenge them well next season.
“Congratulations to Mercedes and Toto for achieving seven consecutive Constructors’ Championships. An amazing achievement and we certainly hope to be able to give them more of a challenge next year.”
And if he is to do that, then he needs a stronger partner to Max Verstappen. The two obvious free agents available are the former Force India teammates Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. Both are extremely competitive and have credible experience in the sport. In the three seasons they were teammates at Force India, Perez has a 2-1 record over his good pal. Either of them would be a massive upgrade and could go a long way in breaking Mercedes’ unprecedented dominance.
