Alex Albon is facing fresh questions about his future at Red Bull after an error-strewn Eifel Grand Prix on Sunday.
As teammate Max Verstappen kept Mercedes on their toes, the London-born Thai driver once again struggled in the fight to lead the midfield, nearly wiping out Daniel Ricciardo on Lap 1 and Pierre Gasly later on with two severe lock-ups.
Eventually, Albon did have the inevitable clash as he ran over Daniil Kvyat’s front wing while passing after the Russian had gone too deep into the chicane.
“Well, I didn’t understand his manoeuvre, really, what he was doing,” the AlphaTauri driver said post-race.
“I think it was quite unprofessional of him and very poor judgement. Wouldn’t expect that from a driver of his level – you know, he’s been racing for so long.
“Anyway, the race was pretty much ruined from there on, I had to do the whole lap very slow with the damaged front wing, the front wing as a consequence went under the floor, damaging my whole floor, and brake cooling.
“The race from there was really a struggle because it was massively down on downforce – it was just hoping for rain or something strange to happen.”
That incident earned Albon a five-second penalty, though just as it was confirmed, he would pull into the garage with what was later revealed to be a damaged radiator.
“It has been a sorry old day for him,” Sky Sports pundit Paul di Resta commented.
“Red Bull need more from Albon. They need more from a number two driver because with the Constructors’ Championship, the fact that Mercedes can win it in a couple of races, yet Max is within 10 points of Bottas in the Driver’s standings, it shows you the job that can be done with that package.”
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Adding his view, Nico Rosberg believes if Red Bull weren’t considering Alex’s future before, they might be now.
“I’ll go a bit further and just say he has driven very, very badly this weekend,” said the 2016 world champion.
“He has been slow, done so many mistakes out there today, and that is the opposite of what he needs at the moment. He needs a good result to secure his seat and with today it doesn’t look like he is going to be able to keep hold of it.
“It’s a pity because he is likeable and we know he can drive well.”
However, commenting on Albon’s race, team boss Christian Horner still seemed very much to have his back.
“It was a shame in the race, I think he would have been racing [Sergio] Perez and [Daniel] Ricciardo even with that flat spot and early stop,” he claimed.
“It was a shame for him not to see that come to fruition today because he’s had a pretty sensible weekend.
“So I think it’s a shame that he didn’t get a result out of today, because I think there was more to come.”