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The head of the Red Bull driver program, Dr. Helmut Marko, says his lineup for 2021 will be finalized “before Christmas.”
Heading into the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, signs were beginning to point to Alex Albon being retained for 2021 despite his poor form this season.
And after he put on his best display of 2020 at the season finale event, belatedly pushing Lewis Hamilton for a podium spot before falling short, it seemed the Thai driver may well have delivered on his last chance.
But after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix concluded, Sky F1 reporter Ted Kravitz again left the situation open when he said Red Bull is expected to announce Sergio Perez alongside Max Verstappen by 2021, leaving Albon to play. the role of test pilot and reserve.
But whatever the outcome, Marko said a decision will be made before December 25.
“It was one of his best races, yet we will think about it and make a decision before Christmas,” he told Autosport.
“We have to review all the data. There are so many things we have to analyze. “
Red Bull director Christian Horner praised Albon in Abu Dhabi and, like Marko, said the time has come to analyze the data from an entire season to make a decision.
“We have always said that we will go until the end of the year and then we will make our decision at the end of the season,” he said.
“So Alex probably had his strongest racing weekend this weekend, which is encouraging for him, but now we have a full picture of the season. And we will make that decision in the next few days.
“Obviously we now have a lot of data. We have all the knowledge of the different circuits that we have done, we will sit down and obviously go through it and come to the right conclusion. “
That. . Sensation. 🏁 One to cherish for the next 9️⃣7️⃣ days ☺️ #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #Load 🤘 pic.twitter.com/O1ar4qcTwh
– Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) December 14, 2020
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Horner said it is the ability to disrupt Mercedes’ strategy that his team was lacking, but at Abu Dhabi Albon finally entered the equation, as Verstappen led every lap from pole to claim victory.
“It’s certainly what we expected to see, because the only way Mercedes can be put under pressure is if, for example, they had divided their strategy, we could have been very exposed,” he explained.
“And certainly at the end of the race Alex was able to get close to them.
“Obviously he lost a bit of ground at the beginning of the session after the safety car, once he switched to the same strategy at the end of the race.
“But I think Alex had a good race and had a solid weekend.”
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