Red Bull boss Christian Horner says it is Alex Albon’s overtaking ability which gives him the nod over Pierre Gasly.
Throughout 2020, the Thai driver has been under increasing scrutiny as he struggles to match teammate Max Verstappen, and in fact, sits 57 points behind the Dutchman despite Max having three retirements.
Meanwhile, Gasly has continued to impress at AlphaTauri and of course, claimed that remarkable victory at Monza earlier this month.
But asked why Red Bull is reluctant to give the Frenchman a second chance, Horner identified the area that’s been Albon’s main strength since joining last year at Spa.
“If you cast your mind back with Pierre, where he qualified tended to be where he finished,” he said speaking to ESPN.
“But with Alex, his racecraft has been first class since he got in the car. If you think back to Silverstone this year, driving around the outside of people into Copse, he’s certainly very brave.
“He works tremendously hard and he’s got a very good approach, he’s very popular within the team and we need to make the car a little bit more predictable for him, which it tends to be on a Sunday but not on a Saturday.
“But we are making progress in that area and as we do that his performances will converge with Max.”
Since Belgium, there has indeed been signs of that happening and then, last time out at Mugello, Albon finally achieved one key goal that had alluded him, his first podium.
“There has been quite a bit of external pressure on him this year, especially from the media,” the Red Bull boss continued.
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“In the last three races, he has started to make a lot of progress. Alex is a deep thinker and he works very hard, he is super analytical and very honest with his feedback.
“He is also a gritty racer and knows how to get his elbows out, which is one of the reasons he is a Red Bull driver. He has that never-give-up mentality and he keeps coming back even when the chips are down, which we expect from our drivers.
“A big thing for all drivers is thinking you can do it but it is only when you actually achieve a podium or a win that you think ‘Okay, I can do this’,” added Horner.
“It is the realisation, and I really hope this opens the doors for him confidence-wise and that he walks tall as he deserves his seat and his place in F1.”