Formula 1: Should Red Bull Racing replace Pierre Gasly with Alexander Albon?

If Red Bull Racing decide to replace Pierre Gasly throughout the remainder of the 2019 Formula 1 season, should they replace him with Alexander Albon?

After taking over for Daniel Ricciardo at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing ahead of the 2019 Formula 1 season, Pierre Gasly quickly found himself on the hot seat after, to say the very least, two extremely underwhelming performances to open up the season driving for the top-tier team.

Driving for the Milton Keynes-based team, drivers are expected to finish in the top six. Period. The team have finished in the top three in the constructor standings in each of the last three seasons, and their drivers have all finished in the top six in each of these three seasons.

Additionally, Red Bull Racing are one of only three teams that have won any of the last 121 races going back to the 2013 season.

Max Verstappen, who has driven for the team since the fifth race of the 2016 season, has had no problem with this. He has been in third place in the driver standings since after the 2019 season opener, the Australian Grand Prix.

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But Gasly opened up the season by qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix in 17th place and finishing in 11th before going on to qualify for the Bahrain Grand Prix in 13th and finish in eighth.

In a way, Gasly did get back on the right track by qualifying in sixth place for the Chinese Grand Prix and going on to finish the race in sixth while gaining the bonus point for recording the race’s fastest lap on new tires at the end, but the gap in pace up to teammate Verstappen is still far greater than it should be.

As a result, rumors about Gasly potentially being replaced by Red Bull Racing before the 2019 season comes to a close are ongoing following the season’s first three races.

But while it was first thought that Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, who has competed in 75 races, including 54 for Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team, and 21 for Red Bull Racing themselves, would be a shoe-in to become Gasly’s replacement, Toro Rosso rookie Alexander Albon has emerged as a serious contender to be just that.

After finishing the season opener in 14th place behind Kvyat in 10th, Albon finished three positions ahead of his teammate in the Bahrain Grand Prix in ninth to pass him by one point in the driver standings.

Then after arguably the best drive of anybody so far this season, Albon finished in 10th place in the Chinese Grand Prix. He was involved in a massive accident in the third and final practice session for the race, which prevented him from making a qualifying attempt, and he had to start from the pit lane in 20th. But little by little, he made his way into the points-scoring positions to record his second consecutive top 10 finish.

Meanwhile, Kvyat got back to doing what made his nickname the “Torpedo” and what played a huge role in him being cut by Red Bull Racing after the fourth race of the 2016 season to begin with by causing a collision with McLaren teammates Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris, a rookie, on the first lap of the Chinese Grand Prix before he was ultimately forced to retire.

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If Red Bull Racing end up replacing Pierre Gasly before the 2019 Formula 1 season reaches its conclusion, should they promote Alexander Albon as the next teammate to Max Verstappen as opposed to Daniil Kvyat? Of the two Toro Rosso drivers, the 23-year-old rookie looks to be more ready and deserving of that promotion at this point.

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