27-year-old driver could ‘become interesting’ to Red Bull if Max Verstappen leaves

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If Max Verstappen does the unthinkable and ends up leaving Red Bull Racing, then the situation of Alex Albon at Williams suddenly becomes interesting.

The 27-year-old was brilliant for Williams last year and while he hasn’t scored a point yet this season, he’s shown he’s still several steps ahead of teammate Logan Sargeant.

Speaking on Motosport-Magazin’s YouTube channel, journalist Christian Menath has explained why the Thai driver might suddenly be climbing the list of potential Verstappen replacements.

Albon becoming more interesting option as Verstappen replacement

The ideal scenario for Red Bull is Max Verstappen declaring he will see out his current contract which ends in 2028 and all this speculation suddenly goes away.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t look set to happen any time soon given the power struggles going on within the team right now.

Verstappen’s future is very much linked with Helmut Marko’s and he’s in the middle of a fight for control within the team.

Mercedes wouldn’t say no to the Dutchman replacing Lewis Hamilton when he departs for Ferrari, while Aston Martin would do whatever it takes to bring him in.

That would leave a vacant seat in Formula 1’s strongest team that would suddenly be of interest to a lot of drivers.

If Christian Horner remains with the team and the Thai side of the ownership starts to take more notice, that puts Alex Albon in an interesting position if Verstappen departs.

He’s one of the few drivers with a contract for the 2025 season, but it might be hard for the 27-year-old to turn down the chance to return to his old team, especially if he’s no longer up against Verstappen as a teammate.

Albon has improved immensely since his previous spell with the team and is entering the period of his career where he should be regularly challenging for podiums

Red Bull considering every option if unthinkable Verstappen exit happens

Talking about the choice facing Red Bull if Verstappen does decide to move on, Menath said: “How do you want to fill the gap that Max Verstappen would leave behind?

“Now you can say that’s completely impossible, yes, I think a lot of people agree on that, but then a very interesting situation comes into play.

“We assume that if Max is leaving Red Bull Racing then Christian Horner has won that power struggle, that the Thais are having more and more influence, exercising more and more power at Red Bull Racing and then Alexander Albon could become interesting.

“He races under a Thai flag, he was once at Red Bull, he actually has a Williams contract up to and including 2025, that’s what team boss James Vowles made clear, but it’s also clear if Red Bull wants Albon, then they won’t leave any stone unturned, including financially and will then bring the Thai back into their own team.”

It would be interesting to see Albon back in a Red Bull if Verstappen left the team but he’s not on the same level as the Dutchman.

Albon’s talent means he could end up at several different teams, with Damon Hill suggesting he’d be a good fit at Mercedes.

He’s already admitted that it’s ‘painful’ waiting for Williams to fulfil their potential as it’s unlikely to happen this year.

It means that if the chance arose to move on, he might just take it.