IndyCar team owner Dale Coyne says that he has "for sure" put Alex Albon on his radar for 2022 as the Red Bull driver has showed a keen interest in competing in the US series.
Albon was a visitor to the IndyCar paddock last weekend at Indianapolis where the 25-year-old met up with Romain Grosjean and introduced himself to several teams.
Albon's only racing program this season is a part time drive in the German DTM series with an AlphaTauri sponsored Ferrari, but with chances of a return to the F1 grid in 2022 currently looking slim, the Anglo-Thai racer is weighing up his options for next year, hence his exploratory trip to Indy.
"He’s been on our radar for a while and we’ve been speaking with him for over a year now and he’s interested, for sure," said Coyne, who successfully took on IndyCar rookie Grosjean at the start of the year.
"Romain is a great salesman for us, showing what we can do as a team, but he’s also the best salesman for IndyCar. Him and Alex talked together for quite a while.
"They talked about how nice it is in the series, how competitive you can be in these cars, what they’re like to drive –natural, instinctive, so you can get on it straight away, like we saw from Lundgaard.
"Romain was telling him it was fun to be in IndyCar, a lot of less pressure, better relationships between teams, team owners, and between drivers.
"And I think Alex appreciates that the teams here aren’t set up to have one guy as number one and the other as the bridesmaid. That’s something Alex has been through, right?
"So anyway, I think if they’re used to the pressure of Formula 3, 2 and especially Formula 1, drivers find IndyCar a breath of fresh air.
"The hard work is what’s done on track, in pitlane and in the engineering trailer. There’s not the politicking and pressure."
While he promoted IndyCar's merits and qualities to Albon, Coyne said that he had not gotten down to the nitty gritty with the Red Bull charger regarding a 2022 campaign.
"We haven’t gone into that detail yet," said the team owner. "He was just talking with lots of people, enjoying the weekend.
"But you’re asking if he’s on our radar for 2022, and yeah he is, for sure."
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