The worst kept secret in Formula 1 has finally been revealed. Alex Albon will lose his seat at Red Bull after a fraught 18 months in the role, and Sergio Perez will replace him. For Perez, it’s a much-deserved lifeline in the sport after being cruelly dumped by Racing Point to make way for fallen Ferrari star Sebastian Vettel. For Albon, it’s a crushing blow. Only a year and a half ago, Christian Horner and Red Bull were singing his praises and talking up his potential after promoting him from Toro Rosso to replace Pierre Gasly. Now he’s out on his ear and facing an uncertain future in the sport.
We won’t dwell on the Sergio Perez story. Many other writers, websites, and columns will take care of that, and all we’d be able to do in any instance is add to the praise. The fact that Perez was evicted from his Racing Point seat while Lance Stroll was allowed to keep his on account of being the owner’s son didn’t sit right with many Formula 1 fans, and the Mexican’s victory at the Sakhir Grand Prix only served to underline that. He’ll now get the chance to shine in what ought to be a much better car in 2021, and he thoroughly deserves it.
Albon, on the other hand, has to be content with becoming the team’s testing and reserve driver for next season. AlphaTauri had filled both of their seats before Red Bull made their decision, so he can’t even be demoted back to the ‘B-Team’ like Gasly was. Many people – maybe including the man himself – will be wondering where it all went wrong, so we’ve decided to take a closer look.
Poor Qualifying Performance
Albon couldn’t get close to his teammate Max Verstappen in qualifying all year long, failing to secure a starting place superior to that of the flying Dutchman even once. That’s not great, but it might not have been a concern if he’d been able to split the Mercedes cars occasionally. Nobody serious expected him to out-qualify Lewis Hamilton – even Verstappen is rarely capable of that – but he could and should have finished above Bottas on occasion. All too often, Albon started races not only behind his teammate and the two Mercedes cars but also being the occasional Renault or McLaren. His habit of making car-related excuses for his middle-of-the-pack qualification performances probably didn’t help him much either.
Lack Of Race Pace
It’s an obvious point to make, but Verstappen and Albon spent 2020 driving what is essentially the same racing car. Each driver’s team will have made adjustments to the car to suit their man’s preferences and play to their strengths, but the car is mechanically the same and is capable of the same performance. That makes it difficult to understand why over the course of the full season, Albon was on average more than half a second per lap slower than Verstappen. It doesn’t sound like much on a single lap, but over the course of a sixty-lap race, that’s a full minute. That’s the difference between being on the podium and scrapping for sixth or seventh – which is where Albon found himself more often than not.
Poor Decision Making
Christian Horner is on record as saying that he wants his drivers to finish within the top 5 at the very least, and he expects them to show tenacity and desire to get there. That creates pressure in a driver’s mind, and it might have been too much for Albon on occasion. That was on display at the Eifel Grand Prix in October when Albon collided with Daniil Kvyat while attempting to recover from a poorly-timed pit stop, putting the Russian out of the race and damaging his own car in the process. The crash was entirely Albon’s fault, and he received a ten-second penalty for it. Throughout the season, there have been times when Albon’s taken the wrong risk or failed to take opportunities when presented to him. He’s made to look worse by the fact that he’s compared against Verstappen, whose racecraft is incredible, but mistakes cost money and places, and Red Bull must have decided they’d seen enough of them.
Unfavorable Car Setup
This might not all be Albon’s fault. Much has been made over the second half of the season of the fact that both Albon and Gasly have struggled badly in the second seat at Red Bull but appeared to be fine before they went there. Since returning to the ‘junior’ team, Gasly has even gone on to claim his first-ever Grand Prix victory and finished above Albon several times. When their roles were reversed, it appeared that Albon in the ‘lesser’ car was outperforming Gasly. Perhaps there’s something to be said for the rumors that the Red Bull is designed around the specifications and preferences of Max Verstappen, who’s said to like his cars ‘pointy,’ and prefers a setup that would be alien to most other drivers on the grid. If Perez also struggles next year, it will be a sure sign that it’s the team rather than their second driver that has a problem.
We could analyze this all day, but the fact of the matter is that Christian Horner has chosen to roll the dice and change things up at Red Bull. In fact, if we’re talking gambling, perhaps UK slots would make for a better metaphor than rolling the dice. There’s only one moving part in play when you’re rolling dice, whereas online slots are all about combinations. Even if you land the three most valuable symbols in the game on your reels in a single spin, you won’t win anything for them unless they arrive in the correct formation. Formations and lineups are every bit as important in Formula 1 as they are in online slots. You don’t just need the right drivers – you need them to line up in the right way. Gasly and Albon haven’t. Perez now has to try to buck the trend.
No matter what happens in 2021, we suspect Perez will enjoy the challenge. Albon is set for a frustrating twelve months of watching, waiting and hoping he’ll eventually get the opportunity to prove everybody wrong.
