Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has hailed former Red Bull ace and current Williams driver Alex Albon as “hot property again”, following his rejuvenation at the legendary team.
Albon has returned to his very best since moving to Williams and has become their team leader.
The British-born Thai driver was signed by Williams for 2022 to replace George Russell, who completed his move to Mercedes.
It was a move which Red Bull encouraged and worked hard to make a possibility, as it was because of them that Albon was without a drive.
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Albon spent 2021 on the sidelines and in the DTM series, after Red Bull demoted him to a reserve role and signed Sergio Perez.
At the time, Albon was simply viewed as another driver to have buckled under the pressure of being alongside Max Verstappen, a pressure he clearly struggled to deal with.
He spent around 18 months in the main Red Bull fold, after being promoted from Toro Rosso midway through the 2019 season to replace an underwhelming Pierre Gasly.
Whilst Albon initially showed promise, he failed to ever challenge the three-time World Champion.
When he was dropped for Perez, some pondered if it was the end of his F1 career; however, he’s refound himself at Williams.
He’s matured into an exceptional driver who could certainly do a super job back in a leading team, with him being a regular points finisher for Williams.
Albon no longer has any ties with Red Bull, although this hasn’t stopped Horner from admitting that he’s doing “brilliant”.
“Yeah, he’s brilliant,” Horner said, as reported by GPFans.com. “He’s fantastic and he did a fantastic job for us when he stepped down to be test driver.
“He never complained, he never moaned, he put in the hours, and I was really happy I was able to find him a seat in Williams and he’s found his form, he’s got the experience now, he’s toughened for sure and he’s a hot property again.”
Given how good Albon has become, some wonder whether Red Bull were wrong for dropping him at the end of 2020.
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Horner has since recognised that they promoted the Williams driver “too soon” but that they simply “needed somebody” to replace Gasly.
“I remember we were struggling at the time with Alex Albon,” he added. “Because he had come in too soon and we just needed somebody.
“Checo at the time at the end of ’20, he’d just won that race in Bahrain from the back of the grid, and it was like, ‘We need somebody with a chunk of experience, that brings another dimension to being Max’s team-mate’.”