Musical Chairs
While Albon and Gasly are both brilliant F1 drivers they also have another thing in common, they couldn’t seem to match the pace of their teammate while in Red Bull. With both drivers being given equal machinery, why has it been so difficult for Red Bull to find a second driver to match the pace of Max Verstappen?
Pic: formula1.com
This season of F1 has only had two teams that could consistently challenge for a podium race after race, Mercedes and Red Bull. While these two teams have been the major contenders this whole season, we have only seen one regular podium line up of Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen while Albon is further down the grid. Since the departing of Daniel Riccardo, Red Bull have struggled to find someone who can challenge for a podium like Max and Daniel did for many years. Red Bull have now gone through 2 great drivers as they have both struggled to extract the best performance out of the car like Verstappen. This emphasises the question everyone has been asking since the start of the 2019 season, is it the car or the driver?
Pic: skysports.com
After outperforming his teammate Brendon Hartley in the season previous Pierre Gasly was hand-picked by Helmut Marko to take the free space in Red Bull. It was not long before the pressure of being a Red Bull driver got to Gasly. Crashing out in pre-season testing, failing to reach the points in the first race of the 2019 season and being lapped by his teammate who went on to win in Austria were just a few of the problems that loomed over the Frenchman’s head at the start of the season. After a great race in Silverstone, Gasly put all hopes of staying in Red Bull after the summer break into the dust after crashing out again in Hockenheim. Gasly was dropped by Red Bull after the summer break of the 2019 season and demoted to Toro Rosso (Alpha Tauri). Christian Horner told the Netflix series Drive to Survive that Gasly promotion to Red Bull was “premature” and went on to state that Gasly downfall at the team was due to his obsession with the statistics of everything rather than the racing, ultimately knocking his confidence.
Pic: formula1.com
With only 12 F1 races under his belt, this being less than Gasly’s “premature” 26, Alex Albon was the newest promotion to Red Bull. Albons career in Red Bull started off optimistic with the Thai driver finishing in P5 after starting last place on the grid due to penalties on his debut with the team. Alex’s performances continued to be up to par for a newbie in the Red Bull team showing he could be aggressive and one to watch behind the wheel, almost achieving a podium in Brazil if it wasn’t for the unfortunate accident with Hamilton. Hope for Alex was high, until the expectations of a Red Bull driver started to loom over his head. Alex needed to keep improving but his success in F1 became stagnant. Albons first race of the season was off to a flying start with contentions of a podium in sight until another collision with Hamilton caused those sights to fade. After the first race of the season Alex appeared to be struggling with pace. Being behind his teammate in almost every race this season, Albon left Max to challenge the two Mercedes solo. Alex broke out of the rut he was in and snapped up his first podium after an impressive performance in Mugello. Alex now has the rest of the 2020 season to prove to Red Bull how skilled he actually is, we just hope Red Bull will pay attention. Keeping Albon would be a much better option for Red Bull as it gives him time to adapt and grow into the team. Albon staying would also reduce the stress of a new driver in Red Bull as they navigate through the already stressful search for a new engine supplier.
Pic: skysports.com
The car… is it the problem?? Now this is a question that has been speculated a lot after two undoubtedly talented drivers have both struggled to match up with their teammate Max Verstappen. There are many theories about the car with the first one being that the two most recent cars the RB15 and the RB16 have been designed in order to fit Max Verstappen’s way of driving, using his aggressiveness to fight his way up the grid. Due to this design not being the right match for Gasly and Albon, Max would continue to shine as they struggle to adapt. Another theory is that the Red Bull car itself is unstable and only drivers who have long-term experience in F1 can adapt well to them such as Max, Daniel and even Sebastian Vettel. It is known that the Red Bull car is sensitive under breaking, especially on the rear of the car, this is what Christian Horner believes is hindering Gasly and Albon from performing as they should. Horner stating “I think that can make life difficult for Alex as it did Pierre last year.” Horner also went on to address the problem of the Red Bull’s rear breaking, “that’s something we’ve been very focussed on trying to address”. Hopefully Red Bull will try to resolve their problems in order to achieve a more fair and balanced team, ultimately stopping this constant doubting of excellent drivers.
What do you believe is the problem at Red Bull? Let us know on Instagram @fs_formulas !!
Thank you for reading this week, See you next week!
Soph x