Formula 1: How does Alexander Albon compare to Pierre Gasly at Red Bull?

After making his Red Bull Racing debut in the Belgian Grand Prix, the 2019 Formula 1 season’s 13th race, how does Alexander Albon compare to Pierre Gasly?

Despite previous “confirmation” from Aston Martin Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner and manager Helmut Marko that the team would not give up on the struggling Pierre Gasly before the 2019 Formula 1 season concluded, Gasly was demoted to Scuderia Toro Rosso, effectively the Red Bull Racing junior team for which he drove as a rookie last year.

Toro Rosso rookie Alexander Albon was confirmed as the replacement for the 23-year-old Frenchman beginning with the Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the 13th of 21 races in what was supposed to be Gasly’s first full season driving for the Milton Keynes-based team.

Following the 23-year-old Thai-British driver’s debut for Red Bull Racing, how do he and Gasly compare?

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Gasly qualified in 17th place for his first race at Red Bull Racing, the 2019 season-opening Australian Grand Prix. He finished in 11th. Meanwhile, Albon started the Belgian Grand Prix in 17th due to an engine penalty, and he finished in fifth even after struggling to make up positions early on in the race.

Albon certainly proved that Red Bull Racing were right to believe in him. No matter how you look at it, going from 17th to fifth place is impressive for a rookie. But was his performance really that much better than Gasly’s average performance during his 12 races at the team that ended up with him losing his ride?

To start with, Albon didn’t beat another Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Scuderia Ferrari or Red Bull Racing driver on pure pace, nor did he come close. Teammate Max Verstappen happened to crash on the first lap of the race, and that pretty much boosted Albon’s upside from sixth to fifth place.

He did attain that upside, which Gasly only attained on four occasions during his 12-race run at Red Bull Racing. During this race, Gasly also didn’t finish ahead of any Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing driver on pure pace.

When he finished in fifth place in the Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had wrecked. When he finished in fourth in the British Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen had just collided. When he finished in sixth in the Hungarian Grand Prix behind McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr., Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished in eighth after making an early pit stop to repair damage.

Albon, meanwhile, finished 81.325 seconds behind Belgian Grand Prix winner Leclerc, a margin that rivals some of Gasly’s worst margins of the season, and he finished 54.903 seconds behind fourth place finisher Vettel.

Additionally, had it not been for a loss of power for McLaren rookie Lando Norris on the race’s 44th and final lap, Albon would have finished well behind him for fifth place as well. He even spent much of the race behind Gasly and former Toro Rosso teammate Daniil Kvyat, who ended up finishing in ninth and seventh, respectively.

The fact that Albon seemed to get a handle on his car late in the race and that is when he started picking up position after position certainly bodes well for him. He definitely came on strong when it counted, and had that same prowess been on display early in the race, it’s hard to imagine him finishing several miles behind the top four like he did.

He made drastic improvements over the course of just 44 laps around the 19-turn, 4.352-mile (7.004-kilometer) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps road course in Stavelot, Belgium.

Also, the fact that he was fully capable of passing slower traffic and at such a rapid pace also bodes well for him, as this was one of the key reasons why Red Bull Racing gave up on Gasly so soon. Albon was praised by the team for this reason after the race concluded.

But had Gasly not been replaced and driven to this fifth place finish in the same manner as Albon, there would have been renewed calls for his demotion; there are no two ways about it.

Is it fair?

No.

Is it the reality of landing the opportunity to drive for a top-tier Formula 1 team?

No doubt about it.

Let me make one thing clear: Alexander Albon certainly proved that he is a better option than Pierre Gasly at Red Bull Racing, at least for the remainder of the 2019 Formula 1 season. But he knows that he will need to make some sizable improvements moving forward so that he does not quickly end up an ex-Red Bull Racing driver like Gasly did.

Fortunately, he appears to be up to the task.