The Debrief: How Albon’s promotion shakes up the Red Bull fold
Following Alexander Albon’s shock promotion to Red Bull, with Pierre Gasly heading in the opposite direction back to Toro Rosso, a dramatic shake-up within the Red Bull fold provides extra intrigue for the remainder of 2019 and looking to next season.
Having struggled to match Max Verstappen during the first half of the season, Gasly has swapped places with Albon as Red Bull looks to assess both drivers plus Daniil Kvyat to decide next year’s driver line-up at both teams.
Following Alexander Albon’s shock promotion to Red Bull, with Pierre Gasly heading in the opposite direction back to Toro Rosso, a dramatic shake-up within the Red Bull fold provides extra intrigue for the remainder of 2019 and looking to next season.
Having struggled to match Max Verstappen during the first half of the season, Gasly has swapped places with Albon as Red Bull looks to assess both drivers plus Daniil Kvyat to decide next year’s driver line-up at both teams.
While Verstappen has claimed two wins, one pole position and three further rostrums in 2019, Gasly’s best result has been fourth place at the British Grand Prix and he has been frequently battling midfield F1 teams rather than at the sharp end.
Albon went into the F1 summer break with back-to-back points finishes in Germany and Hungary and the rookie is currently 15th in the drivers’ standings.
In the background to all of this, Kvyat produced an impressive podium for Toro Rosso at Hockenheim – the teams’ second-ever F1 rostrum – and has history at Red Bull from his own demotion back in 2016 when he was replaced by Verstappen.
Crash.net’s Luke Smith and Haydn Cobb discuss the reasons behind the driver switch and what consequences it could have later down the line.
