Can Alexander Albon survive at Red Bull?

[S griffin]

It seems Albon was used as a guinea pig by Red Bull. It did make his job that much harder

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

Trafic?

Like Max said "I can overtake them easy"

Albon was in the same car that finished 2nd and lapped the whole midfield

I see your point, but no. There's a difference between being 2nd and getting blue flags and being 16th. Also, Albon did pass them. But an effective strategy is about putting your car in a position where it doesn't lose time. RBRs strategy for Albon was abysmal.

Max is destroying him. Albon doesn't have long left in that seat. Doesn't mean the RBR strat was any good.

[steve_r]

Max knew that he would come out behind one or two cars on tyres that were at the absolute end of their life. Albon was on the hardest tyre and put out in the middle of the frantic midfield battle with cars who still had tyre life left. Ferrari often get a hard time on here for their strategy, but with hindsight RBR's strategy for Albon here was terrible.

Albon is clearly nowhere near the pace of his teammate, and is struggling in qualy - it is therefore very important that he gets much help as he can, and that is not what he got in this race.

RBR seem to be in a mess. They are the only team with a car that can come anywhere near the Mercedes. Yet since Ricciardo left they only have one driver in the reckoning,with all 3 of the replacements not performing at all well. Ricciardo would be in the mix if he was still there, taking points of Mercedes and running close enough to put pressure on.

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I see your point, but no. There's a difference between being 2nd and getting blue flags and being 16th. Also, Albon did pass them. But an effective strategy is about putting your car in a position where it doesn't lose time. RBRs strategy for Albon was abysmal.

Max is destroying him. Albon doesn't have long left in that seat. Doesn't mean the RBR strat was any good.

Like I said: i meant the speed difference between the RB16 and the midfield cars, and he did not overtake them all, he finished 8 even behind some cars that were lapped by his teammate

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by steve nielsen

Like I said: i meant the speed difference between the RB16 and the midfield cars, and he did not overtake them all, he finished 8 even behind some cars that were lapped by his teammate

You theory seems to rely on a hypothetical situation where Max is also 16th and somehow recovers to 2nd. One day is not equal to another. One circuit is not equal to another. Not sure how you can imply that Max did it when Max did not do anything of the sort.

Max is killing Albon. Albon is almost certainly going to be sacked. There's no need to be a fanboy and be a bad winner and try and deny RBR screwed up Albons strat.

[chillibowl]

I can understand using your 2nd driver to test out the effectiveness of a one stopper particularly when wins are so hard to come by.

What i dont get is why, after realizing the hards would not work and after Max had stopped more that once, why they kept Albon on the hards.

Maybe i missed something else, did doze off, but did he run out of fresh tires? Was there an issue with his car?

With 20 odd laps to go could Albon have not stopped again for better rubber?

[peebee2]

He only had one set of new mediums left.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by peebee2

He only had one set of new mediums left.

Thanks.

With the time taken to stop again, he probably wouldnt have helped him get much higher that 8th anyways. might have caught Vettel but then Ferrari might have covered.

Maybe it was worth the expirment then. All Albon lost was a couple of spots and the gain, if the one stopper worked, could have been a win for Max.

[S griffin]

Maybe so, as we know hindsight is a wonderful thing. Sometimes it’s worth trying a different strategy. However it hasn’t made things easier for Alex

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Maybe so, as we know hindsight is a wonderful thing. Sometimes it’s worth trying a different strategy. However it hasn’t made things easier for Alex

Very true.

[Moneyseeker]

I think he will, the team is built around Max - the No2 is there to pick up WCC points or be there for a podium if the Mercs and Max retire. Gasly has done much better awat for the RBR pressure cooker at AT. No one will do significantly better at Red Bull in the 2nd seat, I can't see them putting a top liner in there alongside max which will only de-stabalise the team.

As long as he picks up good points, he will be fine IMO.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

I think he will, the team is built around Max - the No2 is there to pick up WCC points or be there for a podium if the Mercs and Max retire. Gasly has done much better awat for the RBR pressure cooker at AT. No one will do significantly better at Red Bull in the 2nd seat, I can't see them putting a top liner in there alongside max which will only de-stabalise the team.

As long as he picks up good points, he will be fine IMO.

The only five drivers that I can see being a possible nuisance to Max are in no particular order Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Leclerc and Ricciardo, and I am not too sure how any of them would stack up against him at RBR, so I think that RBR have a lot of flexibility in choosing a good number 2 for Max.

Max is a class act as a driver.

[chillibowl]

Just my opinion and one no doubt painted by cynisim...

But not expecting much from Alonso and lost faith with Ric.

Maybe Alonso surprises but i squarely expect Norris to clean Ric's clock next year.

I should probably say i will eat my hat if otherwise.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

Just my opinion and one no doubt painted by cynisim...

But not expecting much from Alonso and lost faith with Ric.

Maybe Alonso surprises but i squarely expect Norris to clean Ric's clock next year.

I should probably say i will eat my hat if otherwise.

I think Alonso is going to have his work cut out for him at Renault next year.

What caused you to lose faith in Danni Rcc?

I like Norris, but I don't know if he will handle Ricciardo, he has not been up against anyone of that level yet.

[chillibowl]

I guess its a few things but mainly because Ric does not seem to be dragging his useless team forward at all.

i think a couple of dire seasons in a manu built car with no results at all point towards him being a quality journeyman and we only seem to see him now at the end of races sparing with Stroll while Lando passes both of them (with the same engine as Ric has).

All speculation of course.

[steve_r]

On Ricciardo - I think that the struggles of all the young hotshots that RBR have put into his old seat have only enhanced my view of how well Ricciardo was actually doing against Verstappen. Since leaving RBR, he has outperformed both his teammates. I do slightly question his choice of joining Renault, but perhaps McLaren next year will be a better choice.

[Taxi645]

Originally Posted by steve_r

On Ricciardo - I think that the struggles of all the young hotshots that RBR have put into his old seat have only enhanced my view of how well Ricciardo was actually doing against Verstappen. Since leaving RBR, he has outperformed both his teammates. I do slightly question his choice of joining Renault, but perhaps McLaren next year will be a better choice.

I think Ricciardo is indeed an underrated driver.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by steve_r

On Ricciardo - I think that the struggles of all the young hotshots that RBR have put into his old seat have only enhanced my view of how well Ricciardo was actually doing against Verstappen. Since leaving RBR, he has outperformed both his teammates. I do slightly question his choice of joining Renault, but perhaps McLaren next year will be a better choice.

The same applies to Sainz - at Torro Rosso there was nothing between Sainz and Verstappen.

[S griffin]

In my view Ricciardo is at least as good as Nico Rosberg was. Maybe not quite on a par with the likes of Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc, but good enough to beat them more than occasionslly

[wnut]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

The same applies to Sainz - at Torro Rosso there was nothing between Sainz and Verstappen.

!985 Season

Verstappen 49 points
Sainz 12 points

Best Place in 1985

Verstappen 2 x 4th place
Sainz 1 x 7th Place

I think Verstappen outqualified Sainz 7 - 3 as well.

[ASCII Man]

Originally Posted by wnut

!985 Season

Verstappen 49 points
Sainz 12 points

Best Place in 1985

Verstappen 2 x 4th place
Sainz 1 x 7th Place

I think Verstappen outqualified Sainz 7 - 3 as well.

1985?

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by ASCII Man

1985?

Two correct digits. One in the correct position!

Richard

[NaBUru38]

If Red Bull fires Albon, who are they hiring? Tsunoda?

[el_cat]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

If Red Bull fires Albon, who are they hiring? Tsunoda?

Insufficient superlicense points for Tsunoda at the moment. In fact, I’m not sure if he even has any?

This is where Red Bull fall down, as they actually don’t have anyone coming through. Neither Vips or Daruvala could get a superlicence at this stage, so to replace Albon they could only promote from Alpha Tauri or sign someone outside of the Red Bull “pool”

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by ASCII Man

1985?

Maybe he’s talking about their fathers, as Max and Carlos Jr weren’t born yet