Alex Albon - How Much Time? Motor Sport

[Birdman]

We know Alex is a good driver, he did well last year, and without the 2 tangles with Hamilton, he would certainly have had his first podium by now.

However, Red Bull are known to be extremely ruthless with their drivers, Gasly was shunted to the B team to allow Albon his chance in the Red Bull. How much more time will Marko and Horner give him?

At the moment his confidence must be rock bottom as he has been struggling with the flighty 2020 Red Bull aerodynamics, and a country mile off his teammate Verstappen.

Personally, I would give him until the end of the season to prove himself, but Red Bull are not known for their patience, what do you think is likely to happen, and how would you handle it if it were up to you?

 

[Deleted member 26]

Unfortunately I can't see him lasting the season, his performances haven't really impressed any more than Gasly's did. Yes he was unlucky against Hamilton (twice), but he's generally been well off the pace. I'd be giving him only another couple of races to prove his worth..

It gives Red Bull a bit of a headache.. Do they declare an interest in Vettel with him being strongly linked to Aston Martin, do they give Kvyat another chance, or do they go against their academy programme and bring in Hulkenberg?

 

[Dylan]

Red Bull will give him until end of the season then maybe look at replacing him with Vettel. Whether Vettel will go back is another question. Vettel won't match Verstappen for pace.

 

[David76]

Are there other good options at the moment midseason other than bringing back Gasly or Kvyat? (we don't know what Hulkenberg can do). Maybe Vettel for next year. On a wider note, there is a definite second driver problem in Red Bull and how they are handled. It's the Max show there and being the #2 is not easy in that team.

 

[Franco Pinion]

I think they will let him see out this season and then think about it all depending on how the rest of the races go. They could always let him go to Alpha Tauri and promote Danil Kvyat to Red Bull.

 

[Deleted member 26]

I saw an interesting proposition for Red Bull mentioned somewhere the other day... Perez?

It could potentially bring on a whole new "driver circus";

• Albon dropped
• Perez to Red Bull (early)
• Vettel to Racing Point (early)

..I can't see McLaren letting Sainz go early, so perhaps Ferrari may be looking for a short-term stand-in? Button? You heard it here first..

 

[8-Ball]

Albon got lapped by Verstappen today. That's pretty bad. He couldn't catch Vettel at the end in that rubbish Ferrari on 30+ lap old softs either.

Today was an absolute shocker from him. The strategy of putting him on hards in the second stint wasn't great but still, he was very bad today.

 

[Fraser]

If they dump Albon, he will be replaced by an outside driver, I don't think they will bring Gasly back up and oddly they won't use Dani Kyvat even though he actually preformed pretty well with his turn in the Red Bull despite what a lot of people think of him his results were good.

Albon needs a good run at Spa, a decent qualifying session and he needs to end up around 5th or 6th so he can be used to influence the race outcome. Currently I cannot see that happening. And the pressure is only building around him. Tough spot to be in. Only worse would be in Vettel's position, at least Albon can drive himself out of his problems.

 

[Mouth]

Gasly would just get thrown about by the management in RB again if he moved back up. And they don't care about their second driver in RB. They tested the hard tyre in Barcelona at the expense of Albon's race. He wasn't doing that great languishing in 6th but that's just the way it is. You can't have two Verstappen's, but they need two if they want to start manipulating races with Mercedes.

Albon needs to do a Sainz and get out of there. Maybe try to get into a Sauber Alfa Romeo.