Why Red Bull decided they had to drop Alex Albon as Max Verstappen’s teammate in 2020

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Red Bull Racing has developed a reputation for being potentially the toughest team on the Formula 1 grid to secure a race seat.

During their 20 seasons in F1 since their debut in 2005, 12 full-time drivers have turned out in Red Bull colours on the grid.

For context, in the same time frame, Ferrari have had 11 different drivers although that includes cameos from Luca Badeor, Giancarlo Fisichella and Oliver Bearman.

Team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko are ruthless when it comes to decision-making on their drivers.

Even in their debut season, Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi were supposed to share the second car alongside David Coulthard, but the Italian only took part in four races.

One of the drivers in more recent times who had a very difficult spell with Red Bull was Alex Albon.

Now an established driver with Williams closing in on his 100^th Grand Prix, Albon started life at Toro Rosso before a rapid promotion to the senior Red Bull team.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalist Edd Straw shared more details about the thought process that saw Albon lose his place in the team after just 26 races.

Albon admitted looking on enviously at Yuki Tsunoda after being dropped as the Japanese driver made his first steps into F1 with AlphaTauri.

Unfortunately, time and luck wasn’t on his side as he became another driver who couldn’t compete with Max Verstappen at the Austrian outfit.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Why Red Bull felt they had to drop Alex Albon after the 2020 F1 season

Talking about the Thai driver, Straw said: “I think he’s almost coalesced into the driver he thought he could be but inevitably he won’t necessarily get that top drive opportunity at this stage because he has had the shot with Red Bull and that slightly taints him.

“I actually think he’s actually a good call for the most underrated driver for that reason.

“I actually don’t feel that it was a bad thing that he got dropped by Red Bull because I think if he’d have stayed there, I think it would have kept happening and it would have destroyed him because that was the Red Bull thinking.

“They liked Albon. They liked a lot of the way he did things. But there was just the concern that he was just being so crushed by it that it’s just unsustainable and they had to make a change.”

READ MORE: Williams driver Alex Albon’s life outside F1 from net worth, girlfriend to parents

Alex Albon went to extreme lengths to try and save his Red Bull seat

The world of Formula 1 is brutal and the likes of Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat can attest to the fact that Red Bull don’t always give their drivers enough time to adapt.

Sergio Perez recently survived a vote of confidence from Red Bull during the summer break despite his poor recent form.

The 28-year-old managed a couple of podiums during his time with the team, but considering he didn’t complete a full season with Toro Rosso before being thrust into the limelight alongside Verstappen, he did well under the circumstances.

Albon has shared what lengths he went to as he tried to save his Red Bull seat but ultimately they decided to go with Perez after he only managed to finish 7^th in the Drivers’ Championship, more than 100 points behind Verstappen.

The Thai driver has committed his future to Williams beyond 2024 and will be joined by another Red Bull alumni Carlos Sainz next year.

His ultimate aim has to be to return to a top team sooner rather than later and try and add a maiden Formula 1 win to his record.