Perez to Redbull, Albon becomes reserve driver

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It would be good to see Perez with a drive next year. His team was crazy to drop him.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Best news after the DNF today...!

 

Like I said....

 

Well you how the impulsive Billionaire can be

 

Makes you wonder what Tracing Point could do next season with Seb and Checo . . .

 

Difficult to defeat the millennial family 'experience' - Billionaire style

 

Yessir you called it...now let it come to fruition.

 

No it doesn't.

 

6. Albon's closing statement at Red Bull was good, but hardly convincing
Red Bull always said it would give Alexander Albon until the end of the season to impress for a seat for 2021, making Abu Dhabi his final opportunity to plead his case.

Albon finished fourth, which is really the bare minimum for a Red Bull driver, and went on a rapid late charge to put Hamilton under a bit of pressure in third, cutting the gap from nine seconds to just 1.5 seconds late on.

He did well to pass Norris in the first stint, ensuring he did not get stuck behind the McLaren under the safety car, but by that time, the Mercedes cars were already a long way up the road.

Thankfully for Red Bull, Verstappen's pace was so good that split strategies wouldn't have been enough for Mercedes - but had it been, Albon likely would not have been there to play rear-gunner and help his team-mate out.

It again highlights the issue Red Bull is facing. A decision is not thought to be too far off regarding Albon, who could be replaced by Perez, but it hardly has a strong enough case from the Anglo-Thai racer to go on.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/154195/10-things-we-learned-from-the-abu-dhabi-grand-prix

 

This would make a lot of sense. Redbull is a disaster for youngsters. They need someone like Perez that won’t be phased by the aura of max.

 

Gasly can attest to that.

 

Finally, a real second driver for Red BUll.

 

I'm kinda torn. If I owned the team Albon's position is the teams fault. The team needed to do what was done in last race. They needed Albon's Q2 qualy to always be on the faster tire. They needed to put their hope in Max. They needed to get Albon into P4 qualy or better to mess up cover off mercedez strategy like what happened last race. The team lets albon qualify as fast as possible and it does not owrk out for Albon or the team. They should groom albon for #2. Perez will try and win. If close to max there will be fireworks that will not benefit the team. RB mismanaged albon.

 

Albon was never meant to be a challenge for Max, they didn't expect Gasly or Albon to do so anyways. Both Gasly and Albon failed to do a good enough job to do exactly as you say: Qualify and race close enough so that the Mercs didn't have all the strategy options.

Both Gasly and Albon have failed significantly in their qualifying efforts, and that's not because of Red Bull failure in them: Often Max has vastly outqualified both of them whilst he was on the slower tyre, both Albon/Gasly finding it necessary to use the softer tyre to get out of Q2 and still not managing.

And then it comes to race pace where their completely inability to get to grips with the car is exploited: Both have been lapped in multiple races by Max, who was on his way to podiums or wins whilst they barely got any points.

The Red Bull since 2019 has been a difficult car to drive. The aero is quite instable which leads to sudden unexpected spins. Both Gasly and Albon couldn't handle this very well and drove below the cars ability, which in turn means the slower cars are able to fight them quite easily. The obvious fix for that would be to make the car more aerodynamically stable, but there isn't really a quick fix for that. Well there is, but that quite simply means the car will be slower...and then you're dealing with another problem altogether: Do you follow the path of making the car easier to drive but slower, or do you make it difficult but fast? Clearly with 1 driver demonstrating he can hustle the car and comfortably finish on the podium so long there aren't any car problems, you take the latter path and hope the #2 driver adapts.

Neither #2 driver could adapt, I also don't see any point bringing Gasly back to a car he couldn't drive before, so their only real option is to get another driver. I'm sure they got Perez for pennies on the dollar. Presumably a 1 year deal, if he can't drive the car so well either, they can always re-introduce Albon whenever they feel like it.

 

Gasly and Albon in Alpha Tauri could provide a great "junior B" team in 2021. Franz Tost and the team there do seem to be able to provide something -- consistency, feedback, a less fraught atmosphere, cuddles -- that, along with good equipment, helps his drivers do well. Look at how well Gasly has decompressed there. I wonder if he can do the same with Albon....

 

If the deal goes ahead, Sergio Perez may get something out of his sacking.
The Red Bull car seems to be superior to a Racing Point.
Although dealing with RB management can be daunting for young driver, Sergio has enough experience not to be pushed around, IMO.

 

Welcome back william. You were missed on here. How was Abu Dhabi?

 

Thanks.
I thought about not coming back to be honest.
I am looking for a F1 forum that is more than a gossip column to discuss dress code, hair implant and musical choices.

 

I'm glad you changed your mind. This forum needs your (occasionally contrarian) voice to stay honest.

 

Welcome back! Yeah its been business as usual here

 

I sure hope that hiring Perez also means sacking Marko. Alpha Tauri does not deliver the required talent to justify it to consider it a development team for the A-team. But in good RB tradition of both having and eating the cake, that will certainly not happen Maybe their tactics is to attract more sponsor-drivers and put all their money on Max?

 

LOL oh that was a good one! Welcome back.

 

That, and Sergio has shown that he can achieve when he isn't the team's focus.