Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko is reportedly in talks with Nissan to pry Alexander Albon out of Formula E and into the Toro Rosso seat alongside Daniil Kvyat for 2019.
The British-Thai driver has previous associations with the Austrian energy drinks giant but was dropped in 2012, since then he has competed in Formula 2 and was set to partner Sebastien Buemi at the Japanese manufacturer in the all-electric series for Season 5.
Now though Marko is wanting to secure Albon’s services and it was this that was blamed for his absence in the first Formula E test at Valencia on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old is considered the favourite now too after Pascal Wehrlein announced he would be in Formula E with Mahindra for the upcoming season, ending the German’s quest to return to F1 after being dropped by Sauber at the end of 2017.
Should a deal be reached and Albon be signed he would join fellow Brit’s Geroge Russell and Lando Norris as one of three rookies on the F1 grid next season.