Marko: 2020 Red Bull F1 seat is between Albon and Gasly

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko says the team’s sole-remaining seat for the 2020 Formula 1 season will be taken by either Pierre Gasly or Alexander Albon.

Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of qualifying for this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, Marko confirmed that Red Bull has already agreed “internally” that Daniil Kvyat will remain at Toro Rosso for 2020, ruling him out of contention for a return to the senior team.

Marko also revealed that the Milton Keynes squad is set to make a decision on who will partner Max Verstappen next year following the Mexican Grand Prix on October 27.

“We will make our evaluation after Mexico,” Marko replied when asked for the latest update on the situation.

“Kvyat is confirmed for next year already, at least internally it’s clear. Then it’s between Gasly and Albon [for the Red Bull seat].”

Albon was fast-tracked into the Red Bull team just 12 races into his F1 career at the Belgian Grand Prix as replacement for the underperforming Gasly, who had struggled to get up to speed upon his own promotion to the team over the winter.

The British-born Thai driver recovered from a engine-related back-of-the-grid start at Spa to take a career-best fifth on his Red Bull debut, before following that up with a sixth-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza last time out.

Since returning to Toro Rosso, Gasly scored points in Belgium before narrowly missing out on the top 10 again at Monza, having served his own engine-related grid drop.

Nico Hulkenberg had been linked as a possible outside candidate for Red Bull after losing his Renault seat to Esteban Ocon, but Marko’s latest comments appear to rule him out of the equation entirely, leaving Alfa Romeo and Williams as his only likely destinations if he wants to remain on the F1 grid.