F1 : HORNER DOESN’T THINK THAT GASLY WILL RETURN

Red Bull likes Albon more than it did Pierre Gasly. Plain and simple. Albon’s bursts of aggression on-track and his softer self-awareness off-track seems to have endeared him to the team and hierarchy.

Maybe Albon has less ultimate potential than Gasly. But he looks more likely to achieve it in the Red Bull environment. Given all he needs to be is Verstappen’s #2, he’ll be the first choice until Red Bull looks outside its own pool.

Albon certainly has the raw material, the right attitude and a laudably phlegmatic robustness but needs to show he has the capacity to string it all together across a range of conditions.

For Red Bull Racing, the Grands Prix in Italy was dramatic. The team of Max Verstappen scored zero points in Monza and in Mugello only Alexander Albon managed to score points by riding to his first podium.

For a long time there were doubts about Albon’s place at Red Bull, but this podium seems to be another step in the right direction for the Thai.

That is what Christian Horner also sees. The Red Bull team boss has confidence in the young driver, which he often expresses.

Albon replaced Pierre Gasly in mid-2019 and Gasly has been driving at AlphaTauri ever since.

Horner already saw in that year that Albon was doing better than Gasly. “When Alex got in the car and scored more points than him in fewer races”, Horner explains in a conversation with ESPN.

Gasly himself indicated in an earlier interview that he knew exactly why Red Bull was not doing it, but Horner has his questions about that. “I’ve got no idea what he’s talking about.

He had absolute equality of equipment to Max”. Horner now sees that the Frenchman is doing well at AlphaTauri, but he does not expect a new driver change within Red Bull.

“Pierre had a very tough time in the car here last year, so I think it was the right decision to make. He has recovered in that environment, the car is easier to drive, that’s inspired confidence and he’s got his mojo back.

I’m delighted to see that going so well and Alpha Tauri’s aspirations as a team have changed from being a junior team to a sister team”.

Horner therefore thinks that it is not smart to promote Gasly. “They are very happy with his performances, he’s happy in that environment and I still don’t believe we’ve seen the best of Alex yet”, the teamboss concludes.

F1 : HORNER DOESN’T THINK THAT GASLY WILL RETURN F1 : HORNER DOESN’T THINK THAT GASLY WILL RETURN

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