Richard Bradley, a Le Mans champion, emphasized the necessity of considering Alex Albon as a potential candidate for Red Bull, along with other prominent Formula 1 teams.
Albon, previously employed as a Red Bull driver competed for the Austrian team for a season and a half spanning 2019 to 2020.
His challenges in keeping up with Max Verstappen led to his demotion to a reserve driver role for 2021.
This shift in Albon’s role opened the door for Red Bull to explore options beyond their driver development program, ultimately bringing in Sergio Perez to team up with Verstappen.
Amid Sergio Perez’s recent struggles against the formidable Verstappen, it is pretty obvious Red Bull will be looking for his replacement with the Mexican driver’s contract running out at the end of the 2024 F1 season.
Team principal Christian Horner has recently affirmed their driver options for the 2025 F1 campaign are beyond the Red Bull driver programme. The likes of Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Nico Hulkenberg have all been tipped to replace struggling Perez.
Alex Albon having successfully revitalised his career since joining Williams could be back on his former employer’s radar. The Thai driver has solely scored valuable points for the Williams F1 team along with other impressive performances.
Richard Bradley shared his thoughts on prominent F1 teams recruiting the services of the 27-year-old.
“I know Alex a little bit and I don’t really see how you can have bad terms with him, he’s such a nice guy,” he stated.
“You’d be stupid not to start thinking about him and looking at him. He’s personable. He’s very marketable obviously with the Thailand connection as well, and he’s doing a phenomenal job.
“And he’s been in those big environments before, he’s probably grown up quite a bit now and become a lot more mature.
“And he’s still quite young as well, so it’s not like you’re taking someone right at the end of their career, you could build something around him.”
Despite this assertion from Bradley, a clear element that could hinder Albon’s comeback to Red Bull is his previous experience there, where he struggled under the immense pressure of partnering with Verstappen.
Bradley further contends that Albon has faced considerable pressure during his tenure as a Williams driver, managing to endure and flourish.
This resilience offers substantial evidence that he’s prepared for another opportunity with a competitive team.
“The difference is with Alex now compared to the Alex that we had when he was at Red Bull initially, was that you could see a couple of times him buckling under pressure,” said Bradley.
“But there’s been lots of times that he’s been under extreme pressure in this Williams, i.e. we look at Canada, and he’s handled every single one of those times exceptionally well.
“So I think he’s got to be in the conversation with the big teams. And to be honest with you, he’s probably in a position where it’s not just one of the big teams looking at him. It’s probably all of them.”
