2019 Review – Alexander Albon: Not bad for a rookie!
The end of the year is approaching, and it's time to analyze the performances of the drivers in 2019. Motors Inside offers you a look back at Alexander Albon's season, who, having never driven a Formula 1 car before the winter tests, immediately showed a certain top speed.
It would not be inappropriate to say that 2019 was a completely crazy year for Alexander Albon. About to sign in Formula E alongside Sebastian Buemi at Nissan, Red Bull offered him a seat at Toro Rosso even though the Austrian program had dropped him at the end of 2014. A golden opportunity for a driver who thought Formula 1 was just an unreachable dream.
Arriving at the winter tests without ever having driven a Formula 1 car in his life, it was expected that the Thai driver would take some time to adapt, but he made no major mistakes and matched Daniil Kvyat’s pace. Although he was beaten by his teammate in both qualifying and races overall, Albon showed promising things at Toro Rosso, including a remarkable comeback in China, where starting from the pits, the Thai driver managed to secure tenth place.
Having been quite convincing, Red Bull decided to offer him the opportunity to join the main team in place of Pierre Gasly as of the summer break. While the rookie doesn’t perform better than the Frenchman in qualifying, it’s during the race that Albon makes a difference by being much less timid when overtaking and being relatively closer to the pace of the leaders.
A very good season for a complete beginner who even nearly achieved a podium in Brazil before Lewis Hamilton collided with him in the final laps of the race.
Finishing 8th in the standings with 92 points in the championship, it will be interesting in 2020 to see how Alexander Albon’s second season goes, as he needs to at least get closer to the level of Max Verstappen.
