Red Bull Racing has promoted of Alexander Albon to the senior team from F1 Belgium GP, with Pierre Gasly moving back to Toro Rosso.

It is a 2016 F1 season repeat happening all over again at Red Bull with the team having a driver change in the middle of the year, as the current Toro Rosso driver Albon moves to the senior team from Belgium GP onward.

The Thai-Brit racer, who only got the Toro Rosso seat at the last minute in 2019, will replace the struggling Gasly at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen post the summer break, with the Frenchman moving back to Toro Rosso.

Gasly will join Daniil Kvyat, who was the driver who was replaced in 2016 by Verstappen in Red Bull and eventually lost his Toro Rosso seat as well, to join Ferrari in a simulator role for the 2018 F1 season.

The Russian though returned to Toro Rosso this year but with Red Bull looking to test Albon if he is good enough for the senior seat or not, the Thai racer got the nod ahead of him for the remainder of the 2019 season.

The statement from the team reads: “Alexander Albon is being promoted to the Team to drive alongside Max, while Pierre will return to the Red Bull sister team, Scuderia Toro Rosso.

“Red Bull are in the unique position of having four talented Formula One drivers under contract who can be rotated between the Team and Toro Rosso. The Team will use the next nine races to evaluate Alex’s performance in order to make an informed decision as to who will drive alongside Max in 2020.

“Everyone at the Team looks forward to welcoming Alex and supporting him during the next phase of his F1 career. ” It will be interesting to see how they go about post the summer break.