Albon now favourite for Hartley's Toro Rosso seat

Anglo-Thai driver Alexander Albon has been reported to be the new favourite to take over the second free seat at Toro Rosso next season, as Daniil Kvyat has already confirmed to man the first seats of the two and Pascal Wehrlein has committed to drive in Formula E next season.

Current Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley seems to be driving his last races as an F1 driver, as the Kiwi hasn't performed sufficiently well to warrant another year in the car of the Faenza-based team.

The other current driver for the team, Pierre Gasly, will make the promotion to Red Bull after this season, but Toro Rosso have already found the Frenchman's replacement in Kvyat.

Motorsport reports that Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko is currently negotiating with Nissan for the release of Albon, and it'll be clear within a few days whether this has been successful.

Albon was meant to test for Nissan this week in Valencia, but he hasn't appeared on track as of yet.