Villeneuve to Red Bull: Drop Albon and bring back Vettel!

Former F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve says Red Bull should bring back Sebastian Vettel to Milton Keynes next season as the German knows how to make the most of an Adrian Newey-designed car.

Red Bull promoted Albon to a seat with the senior bull outfit a year ago, and while the British-Thai racer acquitted himself well in his first races with the team, the 24-year-old is currently struggling with Red Bull's RB16 in qualifying trim relative to teammate Max Verstappen.

Last week in Hungary, Williams charger George Russell said his good friend Albon was "made to look like an idiot" by Red Bull, but team boss Christian Horner says the criticism of his driver is unwarranted, insisting the team had yet to unlock Albon's full potential.

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But Villeneuve believes the team's interests would be better served with Vettel behind the wheel, given the four-time world champion's deep understanding of design guru Adrian Newey's designs.

"Verstappen already has problems with the car and it makes sense that Albon is even further behind," the 1997 F1 world champion told Sky Italia.

"These cars are really not easy to drive. Adrian Newey always designs his cars to the limit.

"Vettel has shown in the past that he has the Newey cars under control. That makes him the perfect team-mate for Verstappen.

"Red Bull would finally have two drivers who can drive to the limit."

However in Hungary, Horner reiterated Red Bull's commitment to its current driver line-up for 2021.

"We think that we have a great pairing in Max and Alex and we think that has great potential for the future," said the Briton.

"So, unfortunately, it’s not something that we are going to be able to accommodate. That is a definite no I am afraid, and Sebastian is aware of that."

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