Albon set for F1 return with Williams or Alfa Romeo

Toto Wolff has revealed that Alex Albon holds the key to the remaining seats on the F1 grid for next season after Williams and Alfa Romeo were both confirmed to have expressed an interest in running the Thai-British driver.

Albon, who was dropped by Red Bull last year in favour of Sergio Perez, is tipped to join one of the two backmarker teams following a season as reserve and running in the DTM.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed he is hoping talks will “be resolved in the coming days” and explained: “We are looking at external teams. Williams and Alfa have both expressed interest.

“We want to see him race so we will accommodate whatever we can to ensure that he’s back in a race seat next year. There are always obstacles, but he is a lad that deserves an opportunity in Formula 1 next year.

“We are doing our best to try and help him achieve that. There are good discussions ongoing at the moment so hopefully, that can get resolved in the coming days.”

It has been suggested Williams will choose Albon to fill the seat due to be vacated by George Russell's impending move to Mercedes, while Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is also brokering to find Formula E champion Nick de Vries a place on the grid.

Asked about de Vries’ prospects, Wolff said: “At the moment it revolves around Alex Albon, who deserves a seat. He is a really good kid and he is probably the main protagonist in the moving chairs.

“Nick has a guaranteed seat in Formula E with us and I am in two minds, as I said before. I would wish him to be in Formula 1 but I don’t want to lose him from our Formula E campaign.”

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