Alexander Albon’s prospects of remaining in a Red Bull seat for the 2020 F1 season are improving.
The team’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko has confirmed Red Bull and junior team Toro Rosso’s current race drivers have been retained for next year. “All four drivers have been extended,” he said on Friday in Mexico.Max Verstappen has a contract to drive for Red Bull in 2020. “Kvyat has been confirmed for next year, that has been cleared internally,” Marko confirmed in Mexico
Marko indicated earlier this year Daniil Kvyat will continue at Toro Rosso.
That leaves Albon and Pierre Gasly as the candidates for a place at Red Bull. Albon replaced Gasly at the team following the summer break.
Albon’s start to life as a Red Bull driver hasn’t been completely smooth. He crashed in qualifying at Sochi and again at the start of second practice this weekend. But he has tended to rebound.
He’s finished each of his races for Red Bull in the top six, recovered to fifth from the pits in Russia, and scored a career-best fourth place in his most recent start at Suzuka.
Marko’s comments indicate Nico Hulkenberg will not find a place at Red Bull, leaving Alfa Romeo and Williams as his only remaining chances to find a drive for next year.
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DAllein (@)
27th October 2019, 11:45
No wonder.
He is handily outscoring Verstappen since coming to RBR.
And while of course some can attribute Max’s poor results to “bad luck”, “external circumstances”, “ufos” and other “global conspiracies”, in the end – only points count.
Let’s see what points tally tells us after today’s race.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
27th October 2019, 12:25
I wouldn’t look at the outscoring verstappen, it’s circumstancial, gasly would’ve probably been close to doing that as well had verstappen had the same races he recently had, it’s irrelevant.
What’s relevant is albon is performing well enough when it comes to speed to be considered a middle ground between gasly and verstappen AT RED BULL, it doesn’t matter that much if you’re good at a midfield car, you need to be strong at a top car, else you will end like fisichella or frentzen, so even I who would have preferred kvyat, have a hard time making a case for him being any better than albon, and considering they already checked his capabilities before, it’s fair to give albon a chance at the main team.
DAllein (@)
27th October 2019, 21:02
Well, you may of course ignore the score, but…
Albon outscored Verstappen again…
Adam (@rocketpanda)
27th October 2019, 12:25
Given he’s jumped into a car he’s unfamiliar with and is arguably still one of the most inexperienced on the grid I think he’s doing a pretty good job. His run of finishes are actually better than anything Gasly achieved in a lot longer time with the same car. Going on Gasly, his performances in the Toro Rosso are back to being as impressive as they were last year so weirdly, it seems like the swap actually was beneficial for both of them. Albon’s done enough to warrant staying in the Red Bull.
Ronald
27th October 2019, 13:03
He is barely a step up from Gasly. He crashes the car too much and if Max didn’t have a few bad races people would be talking the same about Albon as they were about Gasly… At Least Gasly overtook Vettel on track.. Albon never came close to a Ferrari or Mercedes yet.
dan
27th October 2019, 13:08
lol did u miss qually in Japan? Gasly never shown he was that fast to Max. And even yesterday in qually Albon ahead of a merc. Albon may finish 20-50 seconds behind, it is still better than Pierre
Edvaldo
27th October 2019, 16:59
Wow, a Gasly supporter. You are one of a kind mate.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
27th October 2019, 15:29
Funny thing is, Albon performance can still be said as a bit below standard but the perception of him is boosted a lot by Gasly abysmal performance in Red Bull. Of course there are several factor that can serve as a very understandable excuse for his performance such as being a rookie and worse, switching to Red Bull in the middle of the season, however that only means he’s not ready and shouldn’t be in that seat. Yet. All these things only highlighted what a mess Red Bull junior program right now after years of mistreating their stars, most notably Sainz. I still believe Kvyat is better in that Red Bull seat for at least 2020 while Albon and Gasly maturing in Toro Rosso, but I assume the only reason it not happening is because it would really embarrassing for Horner / Marko that throw him out and basically overblown his mistake just to make way for Max.
David BR (@david-br)
27th October 2019, 15:42
If he’s 2 or 3 tenths down from Verstappen, rather than 6, plus relatively consistent, plus able to use the RBR’s relative speed to slice through the field quickly if he ends up toward the back, should be fine for what Red Bull actually want. Presumably a Rosberg-esque number 2 to Verstappen – what they wanted from Ricciardo but the latter (maybe understandly) didn’t want to be. Overall Albon looks capable of being that.
David B
27th October 2019, 16:05
I think he’s done enough to earn a seat next year. He’s made some mistakes & there’s definitely room for improvement but he’s proven to be an exciting prospect. Having a pre-season with the team with all the testing & knowledge that brings should also help a little with of course more time in the car.
Edvaldo
27th October 2019, 17:04
For Gasly’s awful performance in that car, he shouldn’t be considered anymore even if he gets a podium in that TR. He had absolutely no excuses for that.
Albon is still a rookie, and people seem to forget it. He is already doing much better in that car than Gasly, and in a worse time of the year, cuz with Ferrari’s resurgence, RBR is now the third fastest car, whereas when Gasly was there, it was even with Ferrari.