Horner rules out Gasly return to Red Bull if Albon is not retained

We might have naively thought that winning a Grand Prix of Formula 1 with a car from the middle of the grid would increase the chances of seeing Pierre Gasly find a steering wheel aboard the flagship of the galaxy Red Bull. 

The captains have obviously decided otherwise since Christian Horner confided from Portimão (Portugal) that the Austrian group will turn to pilots not belonging to its own sector in the event of dismissal ofAlexander albon. 

While he had given himself a respite by securing his first career podium at Mugello (Italy) last month, the Thai found himself under pressure again after complicated weekends in Sochi (Russia) and at the Nürburgring (Germany). ). 

Red Bull would clearly like to keep Albon but the current teammate of Verstappen no longer has many opportunities to convince. 

« We want Alex to seize the opportunity with both hands and make consideration of other applications obsolete., Horner said. Everyone on the team wants to see him succeed. We had the impression at Mugello that he had reversed the trend. 

He has suffered two difficult weekends since then so he must react here and especially at Imola. He should deliver a solid weekend from start to finish. This is our goal. 

Alex enjoys a good popularity rating within the team but we need both of our cars to be able to compete with the Mercedes ». 

If Albon failed to convince his employers, he would not be replaced by one of the pilots Alpha Tauri. Horner has in fact ruled out a return of Pierre Gasly or Daniil Kvyat to Milton Keynes. 

« The choice of AlphaTauri drivers is more or less decided », Specified the British manager. Red Bull would then be ready to study applications from riders not part of the Austrian sector. We think in particular of veterans Nico Hulkenberg or Sergio Pérez.

« Alex clearly has our preference but if we need to find an alternative, then we look outside our pool of young talent, quite simply because none of them meet our criteria at the moment », concluded Horner.

And we who naively thought they had a Grand Prix winner in their ranks…