Dr Helmut Marko says Alex Albon is still in the running to keep his seat at Red Bull in 2021.

The Austrian official has defended the struggling British-born Thai driver this year, but Marko said Albon "threw away the podium" with a spin in Istanbul.

"Both of our drivers overused their tyres, whereas you saw the old hands like Hamilton and Perez who kept them alive. It wasn't the best day for our young gentlemen," he told Sky Deutschland.

Former F1 driver Christijan Albers thinks Albon will definitely lose the seat.

"His situation can no longer be saved," he told De Telegraaf. "Verstappen needs a faster teammate to help with development, strategy and collecting data."

Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez are the top candidates to replace Albon, but Marko insists a decision will not be made yet.

"We always said the evaluation will come after Abu Dhabi," he said.

"He (Albon) had a relatively good race until the spin, but we are judging the whole situation at the end of the season. There is no intermediate judgement."

Finally, Albers defended Verstappen amid criticism of the Dutch driver's aggressiveness and errors in Turkey.

"I understand that the commentators and journalists need to talk about something, but the driver must always fight until the team tells them not to," he said.

"We should be happy that Max is always trying. After all, even Michael Jordan sometimes missed a three-point shot, didn't he?"