Formula 1: Will Alexander Albon drive for Toro Rosso in 2019?

Alexander Albon has emerged as the new favorite to replace Brendon Hartley as Scuderia Toro Rosso’s second driver in the 2019 Formula 1 season.

Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley has underperformed to say the very least in his first full-time season competing in Formula 1 after he drove in four races for Toro Rosso as the replacement for Carlos Sainz Jr. at the end of the 2017 season.

Through the first 17 races of the season, Hartley has scored only two points, as he has done so as a result of just two 10th place finishes, which he earned in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and the Hungarian Grand Prix. He currently sits in 19th out of 20 drivers in the driver standings.

As a result, the Red Bull Racing junior team have been looking for a driver to replace the 28-year-old Kiwi for quite some time. In fact, they tried to replace him with McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix at the start of July.

However, Hartley has not yet been replaced, although that will likely change with the 2018 season coming to an end and teams looking ahead to the 2019 season.

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Daniil Kvyat is set to replace Hartley’s teammate Pierre Gasly, who is set to replace Daniel Ricciardo at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, next season, but Toro Rosso’s second driver situation is still uncertain.

Formula 3 European Championship driver Dan Ticktum had been tipped to replace Hartley next season, as Red Bull Racing team advisor Helmut Marko stated that Toro Rosso were willing to wait to sign their second driver until winter testing. With Ticktum needing more points on his FIA Super License to qualify to drive in Formula 1 regardless of where he finished in the European Formula 3 Championship driver standings (he finished in second place behind Mick Schumacher), it made sense that the team would wait to confirm who their second driver would be assuming they wanted to sign him.

However, Formula 2 driver Alexander Albon has now emerged as the favorite to be Kvyat’s teammate in the 2019 season. Albon is set to drive for Nissan e.dams alongside Sebastien Buemi in the 2018-2019 Formula E season, but according to Motorsport.com, Marko is negotiating with Nissan to get the 22-year-old Thai-British driver out of his multi-year contract with the team.

Nissan are reportedly frustrated with the prospect of losing one of their two drivers, so there has certainly been nothing confirmed as far as Albon potentially signing with Toro Rosso for the 2019 season is concerned.

Albon, who competed in the Formula 3 European Championship in the 2015 season and the GP3 Series in the 2016 season and has competed in several other series since his racing career began, has competed in the Formula 2 Championship since the 2017 season. After finishing in 10th place in last year’s driver standings driving for ART Grand Prix, he currently sits in second in this year’s standings driving for DAMS with two races remaining on the schedule.

Of the three drivers who currently sit in the top three in the Formula 2 Championship driver standings, Albon is the only one who has not signed a contract to drive in Formula 1 next year. George Russell, who leads the standings, has signed a contract to drive for Williams Racing as Lance Stroll’s replacement, while Norris, who sits in third place in the standings, has signed a contract to drive for McLaren as Stoffel Vandoorne’s replacement.

Albon has earned four victories, his first four career Formula 2 Championship victories, through the first 22 races of the 2018 season.

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Will Alexander Albon end up signing with Toro Rosso to be Daniil Kvyat’s teammate in the 2019 Formula 1 season? If not, who will the team end up signing with the team to be Brendon Hartley’s replacement?

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