Sergio Perez is being linked to a deal with Red Bull for 2021 despite Alex Albon's strong weekend at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

According to Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz, team boss Christian Horner and motorsport advisor Helmut Marko have managed to convince Red Bull CEO Dietrich Mateschitz to move away from the traditional approach of focusing on young talents and sign the Mexican alongside Max Verstappen for next year.

The rumour is Perez will take the race seat, while Albon will assume reserve and test driver duties.

“It seems like there is nothing to lose [signing Perez]," Kravitz added. "They may as well see how it goes [with him] and if he can’t do the job that they want him to do then they’ve Alex in reserve. That seems to be the elegant solution Red Bull has gone with.”

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Ted also suggested an announcement could come as soon as this week, although Red Bull boss Horner himself said no decision had been made as of Sunday.

“We have always said that we will go to the end of the year, and then make our decision at the end of the season,” he said.

“Alex had his strongest race weekend this weekend [in Abu Dhabi], which is encouraging for him, and we now have a full picture of the season. We will make that decision in the coming days.”

Albon is being praised for what some saw as a last gasp bid to save his seat, as he was finally able to stay reasonably competitive and support Max Verstappen's bid for victory.

“It is certainly what we were expecting to see because the only way that you could put Max under pressure is if, for example, they had split their strategy, we could have been very exposed,” Horner explained.

“Certainly at the end of the race, Alex was able to close on them. He lost a bit of ground at the beginning of the stint after the Safety Car once they changed effectively to the same strategy to the end of the race, But I think Alex drove a good race and he has had a solid weekend.”

Later Sky Sports' Martin Brundle considered Albon's performance "timely ammunition" for those backing the Thai driver to be retained in 2021.