Formula 1 is approaching the summer break, which means the start of the contract negotiations. One of the hot topics for many years is the second Red Bull seat. Even though Sergio Perez has put pen to paper to stay in the team until 2024, the future is what the management foresees.

The driver that lost his seat to Perez at Red Bull is the current Williams driver, Alex Albon. The Thai-British driver replaced the struggling Pierre Gasly in mid-season 2019. However, he could not deliver the pace that Red Bull desired.

The 26-year-old showed a glimpse of promise in his one-and-a-half-year tenure at the Austrian racing stable. Notably, in the 2019 Brazil GP and at the 2020 Austria GP. Albon was on for a podium finish at Interlagos. But unfortunately, it got away after coming together with Lewis Hamilton.

Furthermore, at the Red Bull ring, the following year, he was in contention for his maiden F1 win when Hamilton banged tires with him. This sent the Thai-British driver into the gravel and saw him retire from the race. Many believe that the story of his career would have been different without these crashes with Hamilton.

However, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko suggested that Albon lacks the killer instinct. He said, “Lewis Hamilton didn’t destroy his career, but he held himself back.” (translated using google)

“He was second in Brazil in 2019 when Hamilton pushed him off the track. Then Alex wanted to pass him on the outside at the Red Bull Ring in 2020 but got pushed into the gravel again.”

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“He could have won that race but came home empty-handed. It took him a long time to recover. Alex is very fast, but I wonder if he’s not being too nice. He’s a bit like David Coulthard: everyone likes him, but he wasn’t tough enough.

2020 Red Bull Ring duel between Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon

The 2020 Formula 1 season was one like no other. The season began in Austria instead of Australia because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thus, the Red Bull ring hosted the first race, which featured no spectators in the grandstand.

The maiden race of the season is a great spectacle as it shows the true pace of each team on the grid. Right from the block, the Mercedes car set the pace benchmark for the season. The W11 unleashed Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, who locked out the front row for the race. However, the Brit received a three-place grid penalty for not slowing down under yellow flag conditions.

Thus, Max Verstappen and Alex Albon started in P2 and P4, respectively. The Dutch driver retired on lap 11 because of a power unit issue. This left all the hopes of the Red Bull on Alex to bring back a strong result for them on their home soil.

The race encountered multiple retirements, but the one which helped Albon the most was the lap 55 safety car. He was on a fresh, soft compound after changing his tires under the safety car conditions. This gave him a major boost to take the fight to the two Mercedes cars ahead on older tires.

On lap 61, Albon made a move around the outside of Hamilton at turn 4. Nevertheless, the British driver was having none of that and attempted to close the gap. This saw the pair coming together and the Red Bull car ending up in the gravel. A day where he could have found himself soaked in champagne ended up in misery for Albon.

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The stewards penalized Hamilton with a 5-second time penalty, which cost him the podium that day. Post-race, the Mercedes driver opined it to be a racing incident. Yet, the enraged Red Bull camp had a different opinion, with Albon calling the multi-time world champion ‘a sore loser’ on his radio during the race.

The pinnacle of motorsport is a cut-throat competition where only the best survive. Although, there is no bad blood between Albon and Hamilton, both race for different constructors and will show no mercy if they compete on track once again this weekend.