Horner’s Albon praise ‘interesting’ - could he return to Red Bull?

Albon was dropped by Red Bull having endured a difficult 2020 campaign alongside Max Verstappen, with the British-born Thai eventually being replaced by Sergio Perez. 

After a year on the sidelines as Red Bull’s reserve, Albon secured a full-time return to the F1 grid with Williams, where he has been in impressive form. 

A superb drive to seventh in last weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix caught the eye of former Red Bull team boss Horner, who admitted to Sky F1 that he “watched as much of his race as our race.”

Albon finished one place behind the recovering Perez, who suffered a third disappointing weekend on the bounce as he slipped further behind Verstappen in the championship. 

Asked whether Perez deserves to stay at Red Bull, Kravitz told the Sky Sports F1 Podcast: "Yes. Although Christian Horner was quick to praise Alex Albon wasn't he. I thought that was interesting.

"Alex Albon has now severed all of his ties with Red Bull, he doesn't even have it on the side of his helmet anymore.

"He still has the links with the Yoovidhya family, who are 51 per cent owners of Red Bull. There is a couple of sponsors that he has which are linked to the Yoovidhya family and their other brands that they have in Thailand.

"But Alex is not in the Red Bull camp anymore and Alex Albon finishing seventh in a Williams, even though it was 20 seconds behind, although yes Perez made an extra pit stop, but still behind Perez in a Red Bull in sixth, that wasn't lost on anybody including Horner.”

If anyone was going to replace Perez, Kravitz reckons current Red Bull reserve Daniel Ricciardo would be the “obvious” candidate. 

"Are they really going to get Albon back?” Kravitz continued. 

"Ricciardo is the obvious one if you're not ready to promote Liam Lawson, who's next in the Red Bull staircase of talent, and they don't think Yuki Tsunoda or Nyck de Vries are quite right for Red Bull Racing, which Helmut Mark and Christian Horner have pretty much made clear, then give Ricciardo a go.” 

Ricciardo has admitted he is dreaming of a “fairytale” F1 comeback with Red Bull.