Red Bull has announced Pierre Gasly will be replaced by Alexander Albon for the next round of the championship in Belgium.

Gasly, who has lost his place at the top team just 12 races after being promoted to Red Bull from Toro Rosso, will return to the team he raced for last year. Red Bull confirmed the news in a statement on Monday.

“Red Bull are in the unique position of having four talented Formula One drivers under contract who can be rotated between Aston Martin Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso,” it said.

“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.”

The news continues the rapid ascent of Albon, who only drove an F1 car for the first time ahead of pre-season testing this year.

Gasly has struggled alongside Max Verstappen since joining Red Bull this year, and scored little more than a quarter of the team’s points tally. Following the Hungarian Grand Prix team principal Christian Horner said “not having two cars running at the front does hurt us”.

However Horner added at the time the team’s “intention” was to leave Gasly in the seat for the remainder of the year.

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2019 F1 season