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Working our way up the 2018 constructors standings, the second TMW prediction vote for 2019 pits the two Toro rosso drivers against each other. Like Williams, it’s an all-new line-up. However, unlike at Williams it isn’t two completely new drivers for the team, as the returning Daniil Kvyat partners the returning (to the Red Bull family, anyway!) Alexander Albon.

For Kvyat, it’s a chance many thought he wouldn’t get. After being dropped from Red Bull to Toro Rosso, then yo-yo’ing in and out of the car for a couple of races, he was finally axed at the end of 2017. Yet Daniel Ricciardo’s departure to Renault, resulting in Pierre Gasly being promoted, opened the door up for an unlikely return. Kvyat will partner F2 graduate Alex Albon, he himself no stranger to being dropped from the Red Bull programme, albeit having that happen to him prior to reaching F1. Some strong performances in F2 on his way to a 3rd place finish in this year’s championship - along with a lack of other options - have seen him given his own second chance.

With Red Bull’s cut-throat approach to junior drivers meaning both will be under pressure from the start, which of the two will fare best in 2019: Alex Albon or Daniil Kvyat?

Results so far:
Williams - George Russell 27 v 9 Robert Kubica (75% v 25%)

I think Kvyat will win in 2019, but that doesn't mean I think he's better. He has a lot more experience, and that should make the difference between two fairly closely matched drivers.

I think that Kvyat is better than Albon.

Kvyat for me. It's now or never for him. He'll be more decisive in making overtakes which will be crucial as I expect TR to remain Honda's guinea pigs next season.

Am hoping that by the end of the season Albon will be outdriving Kvyatt. Right now Daniil has the advantage of experience.

I kind of see Toro Rosso's pairing as a poor man's Williams. The initial similarity is obvious: a driver returning to the F1 grid after a spell away from it, pitted against a youngster graduating from F2. However, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who thinks Kvyat was ever as good as Kubica was, although I would imagine that Kvyat will be a lot closer to 2019 Robert Kubica than he would've been to 2010 Robert Kubica. Meanwhile, as much as I see Albon as an under-the-radar choice to surprise people next year, he's definitely not got the same level of potential that George Russell has. I think he'll also be disadvantaged by the fact that, AFAIK, he's not had any F1 running prior to his announcement as a Toro Rosso driver. I'd argue that Albon, more than any other driver, needs to avoid any reliability issues and extract the maximum mileage possible when it comes to winter testing. If he has a tough winter then I think it's going to be really, really difficult for him to recover from that.

So while I went for Russell at Williams, here I'm going to go for Kvyat, but I do think it'll be closer than Russell/Kubica will be.

I seem to be going against the grain with this one, I just find Kvyat's return to F1 so uninspiring that I'm hoping that Albon will be better, generally I think it's close to 50/50 for me.

This is probably the least amount of excited I could be about a pairing. Good luck to them both I guess.

Kvyat is very lucky to get another go IMO. He will be outscored by Albon unless he seriously improves on his last two years in F1.

I went with Albon. I think it will be close, mostly because of Kvyat's experience, but Albon ultimately has more talent.

Quite pleased with Albon's signing. Another year of Hartley would have been too much.

Llotyhy wrote:I went with Albon. I think it will be close, mostly because of Kvyat's experience, but Albon ultimately has more talent.

Quite pleased with Albon's signing. Another year of Hartley would have been too much.

BIB: agreed on both fronts. I was happy when he got a good Formula E drive as it seemed like he'd been passed over for an F1 seat, so to see him end up on the F1 grid after all is a nice bonus. Didn't have any appetite for another year of Hartley, and his performance relative to Gasly didn't really do anything to justify it anyway. Not unless Gasly is a lot, lot better than any of us really realise.

Regarding Albon I was the one that championed him being signed to the STR team about 3 months ago now, the likes of Leclerc and Russell also put his name forward in recent months.

As Leclerc's teammate in GP3 Albon pushed him down to the wire, then last year in F2 he's been up there with the leaders all season long with multiple poles and wins.

Basically he's done enough to warrant the seat, given that he's walked out on a 3 year deal with the Nissan FE team I'm guessing he will have a 2 year F1 deal, accepting just a 1 year deal would be a bit crazy?

I think Kvyat's experience will show in this one although I can't say I know much about Albon - so maybe I'm just guessing

I think that once Albon gets to grips with an F1 car that it could be quite close in the second half of the season but we will see. I imagine it will be close in the points as they won't score points very often in the Toro Rosso.