“Don’t become a reserve driver”– Alex Albon jokes on himself in front of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen before USGP race

Samriddhi Jaiswal | 29/10/2021
"Don't become a reserve driver"– Alex Albon jokes on himself in front of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen before USGP race

Alex Albon made fun of himself for being Red Bull’s reserve driver in front of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Alex Albon was switched to the seat of reserve driver at the beginning of the 2021 world championship. In 2019, Albon joined the Red Bull team as a mid-season replacement for Pierre Gasly.

He had a good start, but later on, he struggled to match his teammate Max Verstappen’s form in the race. Red Bull demoted Albon to reserve driver and replaced him with Sergio Perez.

Albon has since attended plenty of race weekends throughout the season in his role as the Red Bull’s test and reserve driver. He struggled at first and said it was torture not to be able to race, but he eventually learned to cope with it.

At the USGP, before the start of the race, the Thai driver drove into the COTA in cowboy attire. When Perez and Verstappen came to him, Albon said, “guys this is just a lesson, don’t be a reserve driver.”

Also Read: Honda touched with incredible gesture by Red Bull in Turkey and United States

Alex Albon returns with a new chapter in 2022

Along with being a reserve driver for Red Bull, he participated in DTM, and his recent success reportedly backed his return to F1.

Throughout the year, Albon had been linked with a permanent return to the grid in 2022. Now it’s confirmed that he’ll be replacing George Russell at Williams in the 2022 season.

In the current F1 season, Red Bull is chasing both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. Winning the race at COTA, Verstappen extended his gap to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by 12 points.

Meanwhile, Red Bull is trailing by 23 points against Mercedes. However, the following five races can be a decisive tool for the Milton-Keynes-based team to overcome the deficit.

Thus, the former F1 champions have a chance to dethrone the hegemons of the turbo-hybrid era.

Also Read: Haas boss feels F1 teams are heading towards an economic boom

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Alex Albon Max Verstappen Red Bull Sergio Perez

About the author

Samriddhi Jaiswal

Samriddhi Jaiswal is an F1 editor and writer at The SportsRush. She started her career as a business journalist but soon found her calling in lights out here we go! Samriddhi has been a Ferrari fan even when her interaction with F1 was occasional. Her first real experience with the thrilling sport came when Charles Leclerc clinched his iconic victory in Spa and Monza and painted the track red. Now, a Tifosi, Samriddhi is a hardcore fan of the prancing horse and can relate to the chaos within the Italian camp and also admires Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Off the track, she finds her home in books and musical instruments.

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