A Look Back: Alex’s 2020 campaign

We reflect on Albono’s second season with Red Bull Racing…

Published

16 Jan 2025

Est Reading Time

2 min

The 2020 season was an unconventional one for both Alex and motor racing more broadly, as Formula 1 resumed action after the pandemic.

And our Thai racer was raring to get back behind the wheel, after taking part in plenty of Virtual Grands Prix in the preceding months — alongside his fellow ‘Twitch Quartet’ members George Russell, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc!

Exceptional circumstances saw the campaign kick off in early July and only feature 17 Grands Prix, with Austria and the United Kingdom each hosting double-headers in the opening five rounds.

Albono endured a challenging start to life in Red Bull Racing’s RB16, with a P13 finish at the first of two races in Spielberg — but he bounced back in Round 2, placing P4 at the Red Bull Ring.

That was followed by P5 finishes at the Hungarian GP and the second British GP, before consecutive races in Italy — first the Italian GP in Monza, then the one-off Tuscan GP.

It was at the latter of those events where he broke into top three for the first time, joining Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas on the podium after beating Daniel Ricciardo to third place, following a great move around the outside of the first corner.

A P10 finish at the Russian GP followed his success in Florence, before a difficult run of three races failed to yield points in late October and early November.

Things improved somewhat with a P7 placing at the Turkish Grand Prix, before a second podium finish arrived in Round 15 — this time at the Bahrain GP.

Hamilton topped the standings on that occasion, but Red Bull secured both second and third spots, with Max Verstappen in P2 and Alex in P3.

Albono closed out the campaign by coming fourth Abu Dhabi, to bring his total points for the year to 105 — enough for seventh in the Drivers’ Standings, while helping Red Bull to second in the Constructors’ Championship.