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Alex Albon Reveals Big Risk Taken by Red Bull in 2021 That Could Jeopardize Their 2022 F1 Campaign

Published 01/17/2022, 6:14 AM EST

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Red Bull put up an impressive fight over their dominating Mercedes rivals in the 2021 season. Although the team didn’t win the constructor’s title at the end of the day, them coming close and challenging the throne was testimony to their developments as a team. However, their constant development of the RB16B may prove costly in the upcoming season.

Former Red Bull reserve driver, Alex Albon, admitted that towards the end of the 2021 season, Red Bull put their 2022 progress on hold for the season. “As the championship got closer and closer we stopped focusing on next year’s car and started focusing more on this year’s car. Especially in the last two races in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi we tried a little harder than usual, and yes, it worked well.”

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As Albon stated, the races in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi were crucial for Max Verstappen to keep the points gap close, and eventually win. Although the sacrifice paid off in 2021, will it be regretful in the bigger picture? Albon doesn’t seem to think so.

“In some ways you only have to think short-term in the championship. When you have the car at the start of the season to win the championship To win, you have to put everything on one card.” Red Bull did just that and took home a new World Champion.

Alex Albon sheds light on 2022 Red Bull charge

While pausing the 2022 car development wouldn’t be the wisest, Albon knows the team at Milton Keynes are relentless. “It’s not like we dropped everything to focus on the past year.”

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Albon confidently adds, “We’ve been smart and Red Bull has always been good at adapting to the regulations with Adrian and the aerodynamicists in the past. They’ve always been smart in that regard, so I think not that they will be in a bad position next year.”

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The team’s boss seems to share Albon’s insights. Christian Horner also believes that Red Bull will return to the front lines this season. “I think we all knew the big rule changes were coming in 2022 and we adjusted our resources accordingly.”

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Therefore, Red Bull took a risk in their game; a risk for which they reaped the profit in multiples. However, will the confidence die down as the complex regulations of the 2022 season progress? Or will the team once again put up a hard-fought battle against their rivals? As the season dawns, it will be a matter of time before we find out.

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Written by:

Shreya Sanjeev

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Shreya Sanjeev is an F1 author at EssentiallySports. Having attained a journalism degree from St Xavier's College, she finds comfort in the sound of her keyboard while typing and excitement in the sound of F1 cars speeding on a track. A street circuit and Daniel Ricciardo fan through and through, Shreya claims the 2018 Monaco GP to be one of her favorite races of all time.
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