Nissan has officially announced that Alexander Albon will not race for the team in FIA Formula E Championship in the 2018/19 season.
The Thai-British racer was signed by Nissan e.dams when it was certain that he will not find a race seat in F1 in 2019 – with even Red Bull ruling him out of a Toro Rosso chance midway in the season.
However, his showing in the F2 season where he ended up third after throwing a good challenge towards eventual winner George Russell and Red Bull unable to get Dan Ticktum on board with the superlicense situation, Albon became their last resort.
As is Red Bull’s ideology – they only opt for their academy drivers whether current or former. Albon had been part of the Red Bull programme but was dropped after which he found some support from the DAMS family.
He did not run in the pre-season test for Formula E which made it clear that he is on his way out. But the contract situation held him back with talks continuing on behind the scenes – which did prevent him from being already announced as a Toro Rosso driver.
Albon was also named in the Formula E entry list for the season which will have to be revised after an official confirmation from Nissan that Albon will not feature in the team. They will announce Sebastien Buemi’s partner on November 30.
The statement from Nissan read: “Alex Albon will not drive for Nissan e.dams in its debut season in the ABB FIA Formula E championship. Nissan e.dams and Albon have agreed to part ways with Albon exiting his contract to take up a different opportunity in motorsport.
“Details on who will drive as Sebastien Buemi’s teammate will be revealed this Friday 30th November at the Nissan e.dams season five Formula E launch event in Tokyo. Nissan thanks Albon for his efforts to date and wishes him the best of luck for his future endeavors.”
It remains to be seen when the announcement from Red Bull comes as for now Toro Rosso will field Sean Gelael and Daniil Kvyat in the two-day 2019 Pirelli tyre test at Yas Marina circuit this week.