As happy as I am for Albon, I am amazed by Red Bull’s inability to learn from their mistakes.
The only time moving a driver up so quickly has worked, is with Max.
With Kvyat, we saw another young driver (who was actually performing well) crack under the pressure of inexperience once or twice, and instead of supporting him, they demoted him before letting him go.
Gasly appears to be almost identical. Despite fantastic performances in a Toro Rosso, he was moved up to Red Bull while too inexperienced, and was unable to work well under the increased pressure.
Now, even with a now experienced, much more resilient Kvyat back in Toro Rosso, the same guy who proved he had the pace in the car in the past, they instead promote somebody who couldn’t even drive with red tail lights in preseason testing due to a lack of super license points.
I sincerely hope that Albon is a Verstappen and not a Gasly or Kvyat, but if he ends up folding the same way under pressure then it is nobody but Red Bull to blame. They seem to fire the proverbial trigger, and ask questions later.
EDIT: My BIGGEST issue with this, is Red Bull’s dishonesty. For Christ’s sake, if you’re going to tell a driver and the press that you aren’t looking to replace them for the rest of the year, then bloody hold to it! I can only imagine having to try and match the likes of Max Verstappen while not even being able to trust my team as far as job security. Incredibly poor. I’ve seen better management of young talent at fast food restaurants.