Horner: Albon could be the "surprise of the season"

Alex Albon has been tipped by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner to be one of the star performers in the 2020 Formula 1 season.

Making the move from Toro Rosso to Red Bull with only 12-grands prix under his belt, it is easy to forget that Albon was a rookie alongside George Russell and Lando Norris in 2019.

"For Alex, people do forget it’s his second season in Formula One and he’s missed sort of the first half of that so it’s been a baptism by fire but he coped with that incredibly well last year," said Horner.

"He seems to deal with pressure very well and I think we’re just looking for him to make progress on where he finished last season.

Albon failed reach the podium in 2019, coming closest to achieveing a top three finish in Brazil before coming together with Lewis Hamilton, but Horner is confident the Thai-British driver will acquaint himself well in the coming season.

He added:"I think opportunities will present themselves for him and I really think he could be the surprise of the season in many respects this year.

When the lights go out in Austria, it will have been 217 days since the close of the 2019 season, the longest gap between races since 1962.

"I feel good," said Albon. "I’m glad I did the filming day to get that initial dust off my shoulders but I’m excited, I think we’ve all been waiting for this.

"There’s been a long drought, we all do this because we love it and we’ve missed it, so I can’t wait to get started."

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