Alexander Albon is a 22-year-old Thai-British racing driver who is currently second overall in the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship season for DAMS Racing. He is currently being touted as the front runner for Brendon Hartley’s seat at Scuderia Toro Rosso for 2019.
He has previously been a Red Bull Junior driver but like many got dropped! He is yet to win a single seater championship which leads us to the question of what does he offer that Hartley doesn’t already bring to the team?
It is not straight forward for Albon and Red Bull. It’s reported that his DAMS team that funded much of his 2018 F2 season are quite unhappy as the ink has only just dried on his contract to race for the Nissan e.dams team in Formula E for the 2018/19 season.
Negotiations are still continuing between Toro Rosso, Alex Albon’s camp and the Nissan e.dams team.
It is difficult to understand Red Bull’s selection criteria and processes as they keep dropping drivers and then bringing them back into the fold. With Pierre Gasly moving up to the Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team, Daniil Kvyat comes back to Toro Rosso after being dropped twice. Hartley was once a Red Bull Junior driver but he also was dropped only to come back to the team late in 2017 when the opportunity arose.
One could argue that Hartley’s improved performance in both the Japanese and US Grand Prix is a factor in these negotiations, in that he is still in the ‘frame’ for 2019.
Albon made his single seater debut in 2012 competing for EPIC Racing during the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 finishing 38th out of 49 drivers. He spent two more seasons in the category finishing 16th in 2013 and third in 2014. The following year he moved into the Formula 3 European Championship placing seventh. Then in 2016 he teamed up with Charles Leclerc finishing second in the GP3 Championship.
The last two seasons he has competed in Formula 2, finishing 10th in his first season. So far this season he has finished on the podium 8/22 times including four race victories. As already stated, he is yet to win a single seater championship.
Hartley hasn’t exactly set the world on fire this season. His team mate Pierre Gasly has continued to beat him in qualifying and has more championship points. Arguably Hartley has had some bad luck particularly earlier in the season. While Gasly has beaten him in qualifying, it has been very very close. But Hartley has made some significant performance improvements as the season has progressed.
The angst in all this is that there has not been a straight forward replacement candidate for Hartley by Red Bull. Neither was there 12 months ago when they decided to drop Kvyat and allow Carlos Sainz to move to Renault, which opened the door for Hartley. Arguably Red Bull are in this current situation because of decisions made several seasons ago.
It still comes back to the question of what is Albon going to offer Toro Rosso that Hartley, now with 12 months of F1 racing experience, doesn’t bring to the team?
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