Albon 'proud' with closing race as Red Bull decision looms

Alex Albon feels he has "done everything" to save his seat with Red Bull for 2021 thanks to a solid drive to fourth in Sunday's Abu Dhabi GP.

From fifth on the grid, Albon moved up to fourth in his opening stint after passing McLaren's Lando Norris, inching closer to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton following the deployment of the Safety Car on lap 10.

The Red Bull driver held his own for the remainder of the evening, eventually reducing his gap to Hamilton thanks to a late charge to finish just 1.5 seconds behind the seven-time world champion.

"The car has been very good all weekend," Albon said. "A couple more laps, maybe we could have gotten past [Hamilton].

"I feel like it's been my best weekend, in terms of performance.

©RedBull

"I want to say thanks for a lot of support from the guys at the factory and here. We didn't give up, we kept trying to find solutions and getting me more comfortable with the car, and it is a tricky car to drive.

"But to keep pushing and to have my best result, obviously under all the pressures of the weekend and everything going on, I'm proud of myself, and I felt like it was a good closing end to the year."

Albon likely won't know until a few more days or perhaps a week whether he will be retained by Red Bull for next season, but the 24-year-old reckons he gave it his best shot on Sunday.

"If it's enough or not, it's not mine to say really," he said. "But of course, I feel like I've done everything. I'll leave it in the hands of the others to decide."

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Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was reluctant to provide a deadline for when the Milton Keynes' outfit will make a final call on who will partner Max Verstappen next year, with the choice appearing to be down to Albon and Sergio Perez.

But Horner praised his driver for a job well done on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

"Alex has done a very good job today," Horner told Sky F1. 

"It's probably been his strongest collective weekend of the season, and he's driven a good race. He was putting Lewis under pressure at the end of the race there.

"That now gives us a complete set of information now to go away and analyse it, and work out what we're going to do."

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