Former F1 driver Gerhard Berger sees a line-up at Red Bull Racing comprised of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez working to benefit of the championship contending team.
Red Bull is likely days away from making a final call on whether it will retain Alex Albon next season or opt to replace its young hopeful with Perez.
The Mexican, who won his maiden F1 Grand Prix earlier this month at Sakhir, has been discarded for 2021 by Racing Point to make way for four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
While Red Bull and the good Dr. Marko debate Albon and Perez’s merits, the majority of F1’s fans have already made up their mind, rooting for the latter and insisting that Albon’s performance shortfall relative to Verstappen has been too significant to warrant a status quo at the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
Berger, a man who undoubtedly has the ear of Red Bull founder and close friend Dietrich Mateschitz, says a Verstappen-Perez line-up would bode well for the team’s chances of contending for the world championship with both its drivers.
“For sure, Red Bull needs two strong drivers,” Berger told Servus TV. “One is Verstappen, and this is not disputed, but a second strong driver is also needed.
“The goal of this team must be to win both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles. And you cannot afford not to have two top guys getting you maximum points.
“I can see the combination of Max and Perez working well together.”
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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz claims that Red Bull’s decision will be announced before Christmas and that Petez reportedly holds an edge.
But his colleague Martin Brundle says Albon’s solid drive last weekend in Abu Dhabi where the 24-year-old finished fourth provided the driver with some “timely ammunition”.
“Alex Albon had arguably his strongest day all season from a team perspective, passing Lando Norris with a nice move and then staying well within the pit-stop window of both Mercedes, which took away their opportunity to try something different with one car on a second stop in order to try to destabilise Max Verstappen’s metronomic progress out front,” Brundle wrote in his column for Sky Sports.
“Albon was the fastest car on track in the final quarter of the race and closed to within a second-and-a-half of Hamilton, and four seconds of Bottas who finished second.”
However, for many, the strong display was simply too little too late for Albon.
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