Alexander Albon reacts to his F1 demotion for first time as Racing Point has host of gifts to Sergio Perez, while Daniil Kvyat thanks AlphaTauri and link to Max Verstappen’s documentary.
After losing his Red Bull Racing seat to Perez for the 2021 F1 season, Albon took to social media to speak about his demotion for the first time. The Thai is naturally disappointed with the outcome but adds that he is determined to return in 2022.
“I can’t lie guys, it hurts,” wrote Albon. “I gave it everything out there, but it wasn’t quite enough. I want to say a huge thank you to all of you that supported me throughout this year, especially my Thai fans. With all the different opinions out there, I always had you guys to push me through it.
“I’m not giving up, I’ve poured my life into this and I won’t let it stop here. I have more to give and my focus is getting back for 2022 and to wave the Thai flag again,” summed up Albon, who will devote his time in F1 2021 in a test and reserve role with Red Bull. He will not only have the simulator run but also test the 2022 tyres for the team.
Much like Albon, another Red Bull driver, Kvyat, did not get a proper send-off as AlphaTauri only announced the Russian’s replacement Yuki Tsunoda on Wednesday, three days after the F1 Abu Dhabi GP. Even though it was largely known but it wasn’t official publicly.
Kvyat kick-started his thanks by acknowledging a message from F1 teammate Pierre Gasly and then he posted individual photos with a message on his social media talking about almost all of his team members along with the marketing department.
Here’s Daniil Kvyat thanking his F1 team:
Pierre Gasly 🤜🤛 Daniil Kvyat, appréciation mutuelle. #F1 pic.twitter.com/OpbsS70NVP
— Au Rupteur (@AuRupteur) December 18, 2020
Staying on with Red Bull related F1 drivers, a documentary on Verstappen was released by Dutch broadcasters Ziggo Sport over the week. It has three episodes of 30-35 minutes and features his family including his father Jos and mother Sophie.
It goes through his early life and the quest to become a successful F1 driver to eventually making it on the top. The show covered some close moments in his life, including behind the scenes videos – one if it was him celebrating his birthday with rivals on a plane.
Unfortunately, it is only available in Netherlands. Here’s the link to ‘Whatever It Takes’ documentary: https://www.ziggogo.tv/obo_nl/movies-series-xl/vod-asset.html/crid%3A~~2F~~2Fog.libertyglobal.com~~2F38500~~2FMAXVERSTAPPENWHATEVERITTAKES/afl-01-born-to-race/crid%3A~~2F~~2Fog.libertyglobal.com~~2F38500~~2FZINC_76332/born-to-race.html
Meanwhile, the Dutchman’s new teammate Perez, was gifted multiple items from Racing Point as he bids goodbye to the F1 team, with whom he spent the last seven years. In a wonderful gesture, he was allowed to keep his Sakhir GP winning trophy.
In general, it is the F1 teams, who keep such trophies in their headquarters but Racing Point decided to hand the original to Perez and possibly have a replica for themselves. Among other things, he was also handed his steering wheel from the grand prix.
Here’s the video from Racing Point F1 Team:
https://twitter.com/RacingPointF1/status/1340628263249432578?s=20
Here’s Christian Horner on taking Sergio Perez + thoughts of Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas & Lewis Hamilton from FIA F1 Gala
Here’s some photos of Racing Point’s gifts to Sergio Perez in F1 Abu Dhabi