Similar to you, I'm not sure what to expect from Albon. Though it would be hard for anyone to get close to Max currently, maybe the more logical choice would be to put Kimi in the RB!
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I've read that Gasly was experiencing some friction with his engineers , and it looks like Albon is almost always smiling , and taking orders dutifully , so it's not too surprising in the end .
Harmony , when they clearly have a number one in Max , could be crucial , and perhaps it wasn't there with Pierre .
Guys with bent knees and a big smile have it easy in Life.
They are also not world championship title winners and never would be. The winners are difficult and miserable when things are not working for them. You are very unlikely to find any F1 world champion that bent their knees and smiled their way to winning a F1 title. The world champion types are quirky, stubborn and fiercely competitive.
I really do not think Gasly is crap, far from it. I think he is a world championship winning material in the right team with the right car. Redbull might not be the right environment for him to realize his full F1 potential. If l were him, l would cut loose like Sainz did and find a new path. If Kyvat is anything to go by, he is probably unlikely to get a second chance with Redbull in the future.
I hear there has been friction between him and his engineers. In such a situation which is inherently hostile, l doubt he was getting the best from his engineers, hence, it was unlikely that he was driving with the same optimum setup as Verstapenn was enjoying. It is easy to criticize the guy, but you do not know what factors are involved in preventing him from reaching his full potential.
For a start, he had the crappy side of the garage as we noticed with Ricciado. Then, he was given a trainee or newly promoted engineer. I can see how frustrated he must have felt with all the pressure to perform on his shoulders. I worry for Albon, as he needs to perform under similar short comings and very clearly from the outset going to underperform as he would not enjoy the same level of service as Verstapenn would enjoy. But he; at least has the chance to do a better job of building a good relationship with his new engineers and see if he can extract a better service than Gasly was able to extract. If Albon can do that, he would outperform Gastly. But l doubt he would come anywhere near being able to challenge Verstapenn. It would be a pleasant surprise if he could under these circumstances pull a coup or level on performances.