Red Bull Drivers

It has been coming for a while now, question is, can Albon do anything with the move?

Latter is a surprise as most thought it would be Kvyat who'd move. I suppose he's already been demoted, though and a second promotion was never on the cards?

Who do they have that is ready?

Not surprising. One might not like Helmut Marko, but he is undeniably effective at picking the right talent. So why did he pick Gasly, you might ask? I don’t believe that Marko ever had full confidence in Gasly. The tightening of the FIA’s superlicense rules left Red Bull with a problem, it effectively prevented them from hiring people like Verstappen for the second Red Bull seat, straight from F3. Marko has never been a fan of GP2/F2, so didn’t really look at someone’s experience of a higher-powered race car as a particular advantage.

I think that F2 is the worst category in motorsport today. It has extreme tyre conservation and management, far greater than anything seen in F1 since 2011. It’s impossible to see who might be decent in F1 from watching F2. One pleasing aspect of the 2019 F1 tyres has been the ability to make sustained attacks without the tyres overheating. So actually, F2 is no longer a feeder series to F1, it hasn’t been for years. I don’t know what F2 is, maybe something akin to the tyres seen in NASCAR on a road course. F1 needs to immediately address its terrible feeder series, with tyres with virtually no degradation whatsoever.

Dan Ticktum had promise, but after a few dodgy races in Japan he was sent packing and kicked out of the Red Bull system. Ticktum has been replaced by Mexican Patricio O'Ward. O'Ward has been fantastic for a while, no wonder Marko hired him. For me, O'Ward has to be in a Toro Rosso seat next year. 

Lando Norris is someone who repeatedly impresses. He won’t always be on the pace required, but his the speed and maturity so far has been fantastic. When he was in F2 last year, the leaderboard showed someone struggling to manage his tyres, sometimes mid-pack. The reality is that he was very good, especially at the start of a stint where he could push. Mick Schumacher is having a similar problem in F2 this year. So good was Norris, Marko wanted to poach Norris from McLaren and replace Hartley mid-season last year. No wonder.

Albon was never Marko’s first choice, but he had enough superlicense points to race in F1 having raced in F2. But hats off to him, respect for taking an unlikely opportunity and grabbing it with both hands.

No, he's a "British born Thai", whatever the fuck that actually makes him, just like Leclerc is a "young Monegasque"!

If Kvyat had have been promoted back up to Red Bull, this would have meant that the Helmut would have had to have admitted to a mistake; won't happen! 

I just hate the way that the commentators always make a point of their nationality! 

Probably just a status thing. He could choose to be the first Thai F1 driver or the 164th British one. (number now factual!)

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formula_One_drivers_from_the_United_Kingdom