‘A big surprise’ - Jordan wants Red Bull to give ex-driver another chance

Albon earned promotion to Red Bull mid-way through the 2019 season but was dropped at the end of the following year for not performing strongly enough next to Verstappen. 

The British-Thai spent the 2021 season on the sidelines as Red Bull’s reserve but has been one of the standout performers on the F1 grid since securing a full-time return with Williams in 2022. 

“I have a real soft spot for Albon,” Jordan said on the Formula For Success podcast. “I just think that given the right situations I think he could really, really be mustard. 

“I would like to see at some stage that he be given the chance alongside Max [Verstappen], because I think he might be a big surprise.”

Discussing which driver pairing they would like to see together, David Coulthard, Jordan’s co-host, said: “I’ll put Lewis Hamilton in there for sure. As someone that is just a winning machine when the vehicle is below him.

“I’ll put Fernando [Alonso] alongside him, just to see. When we ask the questions about the great rivalries, they didn’t really get along when they were team-mates back in the McLaren days, the first time, but how would it be now 39 [years old] in the case of Lewis and the other’s 42.

“But if it wasn’t someone like Fernando, I’ll go for a young developing rookie to learn off of Lewis for the future.

“So that could be an Oscar [Piastri], it could be a George [Russell]. Charles [Leclerc]. They’re all great drivers.”

Jordan agreed with Coulthard’s suggestion of Leclerc, adding: “I’m a huge fan of Leclerc. I’ll probably have him in there, for sure.

“Lewis would be very hard to overlook but I’d be sort of thinking of further down the road. So therefore, I wouldn’t have Alonso and I wouldn’t have Lewis necessarily.”