Alex Albon insists he doesn’t “mind” if Red Bull has been naming potential candidates to replace him for 2021. “He’s still our man,” Dr Helmut Marko, the man most directly in charge of Red Bull’s driver decisions, said of Albon. “Even if the gap is still acceptable, we expect him to further reduce the gap to Max. Clearly, Red Bull is now combining statements of support for Albon with obvious pressure to improve. “What is written or said does not affect the way I drive,” said Albon. Finally, Marko was asked about rumours that Verstappen’s preference – declared privately but also now publicly – is that Red Bull replace Albon with Hulkenberg.

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