With only a handful of races left to go in what has been a whirlwind of a racing season, 2020 brought the return of the famous Nürburgring - a fitting setting for some record-equalling history.
The focus of this post surrounds the Red Bull family. Week in week out, Max Verstappen exerts his internal team dominance and poses the only threat to Mercedes. His consistency in getting the maximum out of his car's performance on track is seriously impressive.
The progress of car number 23 however, worries me. The delight of his maiden podium in Mugello remains the only highlight of Alex Albon's season and the rest has been difficult to watch at times.
Firstly, I must say I am a huge fan of Alex - he seems like one of the nicest guys you could meet and there's many a reason why he is driving a Red Bull. But it seems far too similar to Pierre Gasly's stint at the Milton Keynes outfit. To regularly be 4-5 tenths plus, off your teammate never goes unnoticed in this paddock. It is evident that Alex races well but not at the same level of Verstappen and qualifying is even poorer. The stats don't lie in motorsport - when Alex and Max are both on track, there's only one winner.
I thought Albon's Eifel GP drive was sloppy. Numerous big lock-ups forcing him to pit for new tyres, the incident with Daniil Kvyat and then a questionable decision to retire the car. Whether it was an engine issue or not, at the time it seemed odd to the viewer with a lack of a clear explanation. I thought his post-race interview was bizarre, almost appearing to 'forget' what happened, especially with Kvyat. Very unusual.
Albon was due to run a revised chassis on Friday to seek out any potential issues with his car, having to then switch back to the normal chassis for Saturday. Clearly Red Bull are trying everything possible to work with Alex to bring the best out of the car. But is Alex currently the issue?
The current complexity within Red Bull is significant with Honda pulling out for 2022. Having to find an engine at relatively short notice, or continue the development of the Honda package is a big ask. Helmut Marko is also surely questioning their 2 driver line-ups. It is likely that Gasly will remain at AlphaTauri as I don't think the relationship at Red Bull is there for him to thrive. Kvyat is the most likely to move on and could this be Red Bull's first move in the driver market?
If Kvyat departs, who comes in: Tsunoda or Albon. Tsunoda ticks boxes left right and centre - he's Japanese with links to Honda, a superlicence won't be an issue, he's a fresh talent and would demonstrate the utilisation of the young driver programme. Arguably he may benefit most from another year in F2, but I think he will end up in F1 eventually so this switch would not be surprising. If they decide to remove Albon from Red Bull first, then he could move back to AlphaTauri which would be a straightforward move. It is hard to imagine that if Tsunoda came in, Albon would be left without a seat.
Will there be a vacant seat at Red Bull? Well with Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenburg lurking on the sidelines I fancy the Hulk to be highly appealing to the team. The more I see of him during this bizarre season, the potentially astonishing return seems ever more likely. When called upon by Racing Point, he has been superb and a complete professional. Perez may be sought more by a team prioritising financial backing like Haas, or we have seen that he may end up in IndyCar.
Ultimately being Verstappen's teammate is a cursed position to occupy. It is hard to argue a period of his F1 career in which he was consistently beaten, especially during his recent, more matured years. It hasn't gone well for whoever has been up against him - Ricciardo left, Gasly demoted, Albon, who knows? Who says that Perez or Hulkenburg could do any better with the machinery in the current team atmosphere against Max, than Albon is currently achieving? It would be risky to presume that. The rest of the 2021 driver market is complex and almost impossible to predict, it will most likely be a domino effect within the Red Bull family.
I fear for Alex but I really hope he can find those few tenths to close up slightly to Max, it is what Red Bull expect and require.
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