Will Albon regret choosing Red Bull over Formula E?

One of motorsport's worst-kept secrets was finally revealed this week; Alexander Albon has severed ties with the Nissan e.dams Formula E team and will instead drive for Toro Rosso in Formula 1 next year. A big move for him, no doubt, but is it the right one? Rob Watts investigates.

There's no denying that the British-born Thai is a talented young man. After all, he's won four races this year in Formula 2 and was one of only two drivers in contention for the championship at the final round in Abu Dhabi, along with eventual winner and new Williams recruit George Russell.

On the surface, his arrival in F1 seems both a positive step for him and good for the sport in general, as time and time again we've seen talented young racers fall at the final hurdle, missing out on a place in F1 through a lack of budget, despite ticking all the boxes on the way up.

But why is Albon's case just that little bit different?

THE BACKGROUND

Albon had all but given up on his F1 dream this summer as there appeared to be limited prospects of him being on the grid for 2018.

Instead, he accepted an offer from his F2 boss Jean-Paul Driot to move across to Formula E and join up with his Nissan e.dams team. It would seem the idea of winning races for a factory brand in Formula E was more attractive than pining for an F1 place he, at the time, looked unlikely to get.

What is often forgotten is that Albon was, in fact, a Red Bull junior driver some years ago but was dropped at the end of 2012 following an underwhelming campaign in the Formula Renault Eurocup.

He was fortunate to get a second chance after being picked by the Gravity-managed Lotus F1 academy before slipping through the net there too a couple of years later following the team's purchase by Renault.

Despite some setbacks along the way, Albon has continued to progress through the junior ranks and has since become a multiple race winner in both GP3 and F2, despite not always having the budget of his rivals.

Albon's CV is certainly stronger than one or two drivers on the current F1 grid, and his determination to reach the top is clear, but until now that's just not been enough for him to find a way in. So what's changed?

THE RED BULL ROLLER-COASTER

Unless you've been on Mars for the past few years, it's been difficult not to notice the volatile nature of the Toro Rosso driver lineup, which effectively exists as the finishing ground for Red Bull's junior academy.

Its obvious successes are Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and more recently, Max Verstappen. But the way in which Albon has found himself back in the frame with Red Bull says just as much about their failures as their accomplishments.

The Toro Rosso driving lineup last season consisted of Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley. After a strong season, Gasly has been fortunate enough to find himself propelled into the Red Bull first team for 2019, aided substantially by Ricciardo jumping ship to Renault.

And what about Hartley? Cast aside after just one full season, his brief F1 career is as strange as it gets.

Dropped from the Red Bull junior programme several years ago, Hartley went away and won Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship title, and in doing so probably proved a few of his doubters wrong.

Fast forward to 2017, and Hartley was the man they called upon once it became clear that Daniil Kvyat's services would no longer be required (more on him in a moment). A little over a year later and that experiment seems to have run its course too.

Upon his exit, Hartley thanked "almost all" of the 500-strong Toro Rosso staff on social media, a telling hint at the levels of support he feels he was given by Dr Helmut Marko, who repeatedly called into question his job security throughout his time with the team. Sound familiar, Daniil?

???? pic.twitter.com/AORIcA7oSi — Brendon Hartley (@BrendonHartley) November 27, 2018

With the loss of Gasly and their other young prospect Dan Ticktum's superlicence issues complicating his chances, surely Toro Rosso would have little choice but to stick with Hartley?

Seemingly not, as Red Bull rarely take the expected route in these situations.

WHAT AWAITS ALBON?

It would seem that Kvyat, the man fired twice by Red Bull in the space of 18 months, has seemingly done enough during his time away to convince Marko that he's worth another shot.

But don't be fooled into thinking Kvyat's suddenly back in favour. There could well be a good reason why Red Bull have placed him back in the Toro Rosso team, without wanting to sound overly cynical.

Having rinsed through no less than five different driver combinations over the past three seasons, it's easy to see how benchmarking drivers could prove to be a little tricky for Toro Rosso. Enter Kvyat, who Red Bull had previously already decided was not good enough. In a strange turn of events, he's now thrust back into the spotlight and is that benchmark, but crucially for Albon, not in a good way.

This is a little different to McLaren seeing Fernando Alonso as a benchmark for Stoffel Vandoorne. Get within a tenth or two of a double world champion and you've done alright.

But that will certainly not be the case for Albon. Failure to beat Kvyat will likely mean, by default, that he is also not up to scratch.

It's understandable to see why Kvyat may have put himself back in that situation – he may have already thought his last shot at F1 had gone, so another is priceless. Albon will hope to be given the time to learn and develop, but the situation he finds himself means he's already under huge pressure as a young driver in his first season at the top.

WHAT HE'S LEFT BEHIND

When Nissan e.dams announced they had secured Albon's signature in September, team boss Driot explained that his frustration at the lack of opportunities for young drivers in F1 had prompted him to offer Albon the chance to partner Sebastien Buemi in his newly branded team.

F1's loss was Formula E's gain, and Nissan e.dams appeared to have pulled off a coup by tempting the 22-year-old to put his F1 ambitions on hold and commit to a three-year contract with them instead.

Imagine the Nissan team's annoyance then to discover on the eve of the official Formula E test in Valencia that Albon had been approached once again by Dr Marko, only this time the offer was concrete and their new recruit was asking to be released from his contract.

With just three days remaining for Nissan e.dams to test their new car prior to the season opener in December, Albon's exit left the team in dire straits. Whatever happens now in F1, Albon's Formula E bridges may already be well and truly burned as a result of his last-minute exit.

Driot says the Nissan management were "very unhappy" with Red Bull's approach, and that his DAMS team had invested a lot of time and money in Albon over the past 12 months to give him a competitive car and the opportunity to win races.

However, as the Frenchman explained to Autosport: "When you have a driver who doesn't want to drive any more, what do you do?" Albon cannot be blamed for dreaming of a future in F1 that many if not all young drivers do.

If the Toro Rosso move works out for him, then the events of the past few weeks will be quickly forgotten, and we'll all move on. Should he be anything less than excellent, however, he'll quickly find out what an unforgiving and ruthless world F1 can be.

MORE: Alexander Albon completes Toro Rosso 2019 line-up
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