Albon: Red Bull had no reason to keep me in 2012

Alexander Albon insists there are no hard feelings between himself and Red Bull from when the team decided to drop him from its junior programme.

Albon, who will make his F1 debut for Red Bull at the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend, lasted just one year in the junior programme, when he raced in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.

MORE: Marko: Red Bull had to give Albon a chance | Albon: 'Surreal' to be promoted to Red Bull

However, he was called up to Toro Rosso for the 2019 season after spending two years in Formula 2, ending his plans to compete in the 2018/19 Formula E championship.

Pierre Gasly was dropped from Red Bull and demoted back to Toro Rosso after the round in Hungary, which saw the energy drink squad sign up Albon, despite the fact he only has 12 races under his best in F1.

Albon states that he understands why Red Bull opted to part ways with him seven years ago, as he thinks he was not driving well enough to be retained. 

“Back then I was not driving very well and there was no reason to keep me on board, so no, there's none of that.

“It's nice that I'm a surprise to most people. I would almost, in a way, wish it wasn't a surprise! But it's nice that people are happy with how it's going.”

Albon posed in Red Bull attire on Monday for social media and spent his first day at the factory ahead of the race at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.