Toro Rosso Door Open for Hartley after Albon Stays in FE

Alexander Albon has been named as a Nissan driver on the official Formula E entry list for the 2018/19 season, despite being linked with an F1 switch to Toro Rosso.

The British-Thai driver had already signed for the Nissan e.dams Formula E squad following an impressive Formula 2 campaign this year, before he emerged as a candidate for a 2019 Toro Rosso F1 seat alongside the returning Daniil Kvyat.

Speculation of a move to Toro Rosso increased when Albon skipped pre-season testing duties for Nissan, with fellow countryman Oliver Rowland completing the team’s running on the final day at Valencia.

Formula E teams had until October 24th to submit its driver line-ups for the upcoming 2018/19 campaign, which begins in Saudi Arabia on December 15th.

On Friday the FIA published the official season five entry list, with Albon listed in the #22 Nissan IM01 alongside Sebastien Buemi.

Nissan is yet to confirm its line-up for the inaugural Ad Diriyah E-Prix and according to Article 19.1 of the sporting regulations, “changes for reasons of force majeure or breach of contract will be at discretion of the stewards.”

For the first time in the all-electric series’ history, 11 teams and 22 drivers will contest the championship following the addition of Mercedes affiliate HWA and its drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Gary Paffett.

Season five also marks the introduction of the Gen 2 car, as well as a new race format comprising of 45-minute plus one lap races which will not feature car swaps.

In the meantime, this has thrown the doors wide open for Brendon Hartley to stay with Toro Rosso. The Kiwi driver has been beaten by teammate Pierre Gasly during this season, but has started coming into his own.

For a while, it seemed like Hartley’s seat was in danger and he will be hoping that his recent performances will be enough to convince Toro Rosso.