Albon’s F1 future to be resolved in “days” amid Williams, Alfa interest

The Anglo-Thai racer has spent 2021 competing in DTM alongside his F1 reserve duties for Red Bull after losing his drive alongside Max Verstappen to Sergio Perez over the winter.

Red Bull has been working to find Albon a full-time F1 seat for 2022 and he has since emerged as an option for either Williams or Alfa Romeo, with a flurry of driver market activity set to be kicked off by Kimi Raikkonen’s decision to retire at the end of the season.

With George Russell expected to graduate to Mercedes and Valtteri Bottas favourite to replace Raikkonen, there could be two vacancies left to fill at Williams and Alfa Romeo.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Horner revealed he expects Albon’s future to be resolved in the near-future.

“I think Alex deserves a seat in Formula 1 and I think there’s quite a bit of interest in him for next year,” Horner said.

“We’ll do whatever we can to try and enable that. I hope that nothing prevents him from realising one of those opportunities. He’s a talented driver and is subject to George moving, and now Kimi is retiring, that does open up opportunities.

“I’m sure it will get resolved over the next week or so.”

Asked whether Red Bull is looking to find Albon a drive at an external team, or is considering placing him back into the AlphaTauri fold, Horner replied: “No we are looking at external teams.

“Williams and Alfa Romeo have both expressed interest and we’re keen to see him back racing in Formula 1. Hopefully that can get resolved over the next few days.”

Horner did not rule out Red Bull offering a financial support package as part of any deal, though he does not believe it will be necessary.

“I think he’s good enough that he doesn’t need to be taking a funding package with him, but we’re looking to enable that he gets a drive,” he added.

“So wherever we can help, we certainly will and as I say, hopefully it can be resolved in the near-future.”

Another driver linked with the potential vacancies at Williams and Alfa Romeo is newly-crowned Mercedes Formula E champion Nyck de Vries.

Toto Wolff admitted he does not want to lose de Vries from Mercedes’ Formula E line-up but said he would not stand in the Dutchman’s way if he was offered the chance to make the switch to F1.

“At the moment it revolves around Alex Albon, who as Christian said deserves a seat,” Wolff explained. “He’s a really good kid and he’s probably the main protagonist in the moving chairs.

“Nyck has a guaranteed seat in Formula E with us and I’m in two minds as I said before - I wish him to be in Formula 1 but I don’t want to lose him for our Formula E campaign.”