Horner Confirms Red Bull Albon’s Only Chance to Save F1 Seat in 2021

The drivers’ market is slowly reaching its crescendo in terms of F1 teams confirming their drivers’ lineup for 2021. One team that is still left pondering its options is Red Bull Racing.

The Milton-Keynes outfit obviously has star driver Max Verstappen on a long-term agreement. However, it is who occupies the seat next to him that has been a burning subject of discussion through the course of 2020.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has now offered a further update on the future of Alex Albon. He believes the option to move to AlphaTauri is not something that exists for the Thai driver.

Red Bull’s focus on giving Albon the opportunity to retain the seat for 2021, says Horner

Horner is quoted as saying, “I don’t believe he forms part of Franz’s [Tost] plans for next year.

“So it’s very much a Red Bull seat, or a year on the bench. So the focus is on giving him that opportunity.”

The 47-year-old continued and said, “He’s got two races, he did a good job last weekend, being on the podium, his second podium in F1.

“He’s had a good first practice, a good start to the weekend here and two more weekends to demonstrate that he is absolutely the right guy to be in that car alongside Max [Verstappen] next year.”

Red Bull have long talked about wanting to retain Albon for 2021. For that to happen, he will need to cut down his time gaps to a fiercely competitive Verstappen in both qualifying and races.

“And we’re giving him all the support that we possibly can to achieve that goal,” concluded Horner.

The likes of Perez and Hulkenberg as options complicate matters for Albon and Red Bull

Both the aforementioned drivers will be out of contract at the end of the year, and are undoubtedly interested in taking up the opportunity, should it come up. This only increases the heat on Albon to surge forward and perform better ahead of a final decision for 2021.

Last week’s podium at Bahrain highlighted what a confident Albon can do in the RB16. However, he still has a long way to go to prove he is a consistent enforcer for the team.