Alex Albon believes Liam Lawson's time in F1 will come, but promoting the Red Bull junior to Nyck de Vries' seat at AlphaTauri would have been very hard on the young Kiwi.
Last month, Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko suggested that Daniel Ricciardo would be an unlikely option as a replacement for the underperforming de Vries, insisting he would instead look to Red Bull's pool of juniors for a suitable substitute if the Dutchman found himself in the line of fire.
Many believed therefore that Lawson, currently racing with success in the highly competitive Super Formula series in Japan, was next in line for a promotion to Formula 1.
In the end however, Marko revised his stance after this month's British Grand Prix and named Ricciardo as de Vries' replacement, a solution that Albon feels was in Lawson's best interest.
"We can say it now but I’m sure his time will come," said the Williams driver and former Red Bull protégé, who made his F1 debut in 2019 with Toro Rosso.
"I’m confident he’s going to have a seat in F1 soon.
"To put him in now would have been tough for him because he would have been coming in as a rookie, halfway through a season, and with a driver next to you [Yuki Tsunoda] who’s in very good form and has done 10 races already.
©AlphaTauri
"So it would have been very hard on him, and in some ways, it gives him some time for when he does come into Formula 1.
"He will be on a bit more of a level-playing field, even though it’ll be a fresh car, let’s say. He can have the testing and he can go into it in a proper way.
"Whereas if he had come in now, and he doesn’t perform well enough in the first three races, then he’s going to be attacked straight away. That’s what tends to happen.
"So in some ways, it’s not a silly decision to put Daniel in, someone who’s already got experience and doesn’t need such a big learning curve as Liam would."
©RedBull
From a driver's perspective, Albon believes that no F1 junior would pass up on an opportunity to join the elite, regardless of the team or circumstances.
"Of course you would, that’s for every driver who wants to get into F1," said the Williams charger.
The Anglo-Thai racer believes that for Lawson, his lucky break was that he actually wasn't chosen as de Vries' successor at AlphaTauri.
"You can look at it when I went into Toro Rosso and I got jumped into that Red Bull seat in my first year. That’s not easy. That’s not a fun way to start your time at Red Bull.
"So in that way, I see it from that side. That’s where I talk about it.
"Okay, of course, I still was driving a Formula 1 car but it wasn’t easy, and then you’re going to tracks like Singapore, Las Vegas this year there won’t be many tracks he would have ever driven before.
"I think in some ways it’s a good thing for him."
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