What is Red Bull going to do? "You can't say they don't need money"

Christijan Albers wouldn't be surprised if the money Sergio Perez could bring will be the deciding factor in the battle for the 2021 seat at Red Bull Racing. The 41-year-old Dutchman states that the formation based in Milton Keynes not only suffers financially from the corona crisis, but that the departure of Honda is also a major setback for the budget. 

"I think you are wrong there," Albers reacts when he hears in the De Telegraaf podcast that reporter Erik van Haren has doubts as to whether money will be a decisive factor for Red Bull. "They will soon have to take over a engine which will cost a lot of money. What's more, in the past they already had several drivers who had paid a significant amount of money to watch a couple of races."

The former Formula 1 driver points to Robert Doornbos. In 2006, Ziggo Sport's analyst took over from Christian Klien for the last three races. "Look at Doornbos. I think he paid twelve million to be able to drive a few more races and do some testing," Albers says about his old team mate. The corona crisis could possibly mean that Red Bull will also look at the money, even though they might prefer not to do so. "You can't say that Red Bull doesn't need money."

Departure Honda also financially disappointed

Before Honda became Red Bull's engine supplier, the Austrian race stable was a Renault customer team. "They had to pay Renault 25 million dollars (per season) and that was of course waived when Honda came in. Then they got extra sponsorship and the engines for free. That blow will have to be dealt with later on."

Albers thinks that Hulkenberg and Perez are fairly daring to each other. "There's just a big budget missing with Honda, so I think Perez's chances are bigger. I'd rather take a large market in Mexico, where Dietrich Mateschitz can still do business to business with Carlos Slim," he concludes by saying about the owner of Red Bull and the powerful Mexican businessman.