Alexander Albon – Williams – Bio, F1 Record, Stats and News – Pundit Feed

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Smile, changing hairstyles and a determined personality are the main characteristics of F1’s most successful Thai driver, Alexander Albon. 

Alexander Albon F1 Career

Key Stats

World Championships 🏆

0

WC Points💯

202

Races 🚦

62

Race Wins 🏁

0

Podium Places🥈

2

Pole Positions⏱️

0

Debut Race 🏎️

17 March 2019

One of the nicest and down to earth guys on the grid, Albon had to fight a lot to establish his place in the F1 grid. Nowadays, he seems ready to lead a Williams team that undeperformed for the last 4 years.

A turbulent, but promising F1 career so far

Alex Albon’s road to F1 haven’t been easy. As a RedBull junior he tried to secure an F1 drive for the 2019 season, after his third-place finish in F2 the previous year, without success, ending up signing for the Nissan e.dams team in the Formula E championship instead. But after RedBull was sort of options for its sister team, Toro Rosso, due to Carlos Sainz’s move to Mclaren and Brendon Hartley’s unimpressive form, they persuaded Albon to join them instead of Nissan. An F1 chance is hard to turn down and Albon became a Scuderia Toro Rosso driver, partnering another long-time RedBull boy, Daniil Kvyat.

British-born from a Thai mother, he chose his mother’s nationality, becoming only the second driver to race in F1 from Thailand, after the 50’s royal family member Prince Bira. He had some good results in his first half-season with Toro Rosso, with his best result being a sixth place in the rain soaked German Grand prix. Pierre Gasly’s underperformance in RedBull led to rumors about a seat swap with Albon, a move that eventually happened. In only his 13th start in F1, Albon became Max Verstappen’s teammate at RedBull mid-season with Gasly relegated to Toro Rosso. RedBull was a quick car, at that part of the season on-par with Ferrari, but slower than the dominant Mercedes. Albon had steady showings in the nine remaining races of the season, picking up a 4th place in Japan and missing on the podium in Brazil after a crash with Lewis Hamilton.

Albon remained with RedBull in the pandemic-hit season of 2020. RedBull had the second strongest car on the grid once more, trailing Mercedes. Although, Albon finished steadily in the points, he couldn’t bring the team podiums and he was way slower than teammate Verstappen. He eventually got his first podium in F1 with a 3d place in the Tuscan Grand Prix. His formed dipped further in the next races and a podium in Bahrain later in the season, wasn’t enough for him to save his seat at RedBull for 2021, being replaced by Sergio Perez.

After a one-year hiatus from F1, he returned in 2022 with Williams, a team struggling for years in the back of the field. Williams had new owners since 2020, after the legendary Williams family decided to sell the team sir Frank created back in the 70’s. Although the new Williams didn’t make much progress in 2022, it solidified its place in the midfield battle and not as a backmarker. Albon managed three points finishes, comfortably beating his teammate Latifi, with his highest position being a 9th place in the first ever Miami Grand Prix. In 2023 he remains with Williams, as the car seems an even better midfield challenger than its predecessor.

Crashes with Lewis Hamilton

In the 1,5 years that Albon served as Max Verstappen’s teammate he developed an on-track rivalry with his nemesis, Lewis Hamilton. The first incident between them was in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. After a dramatic race with a couple of safety cars, Albon found himself second, behind Verstappen, aiming for his first ever podium. But Hamilton, having just pitted, was charging for the win and didn’t hesitate to make a dive on the inside of Albon, leading the RedBull driver on a spin. Albon finished the race in 14th place, while Hamilton finished third, only to drop in 7th, taking a 5-second penalty for the crash.

Six months later, on the opening race of the delayed 2020 season in RedBull Ring, Austria, the pair got together again, this time with roles reversed, as Albon attempted an overtake on Hamilton. After another safety car-filled race Albon was fighting with Hamilton for second place and tried a pass on him on the outside of turn 3, when Albon’s rear tyre hit Hamilton’s front, ending up with Albon spinning and losing once more his elusive first podium. Hamilton, once again took a 5-sec penalty, but Albon finished out of the points.

In a later interview Albon didn’t blame the two crashes with Hamilton for his poor performances that cost him his place in F1 for 2021, taking full responsibility for his bad form.

From Bures Village to F1: Albon’s Earlier Life

Albon was born in London and grew up in Bures village, in Suffolk County. Passion for racing came from his father, Nigel, who was also a racing driver, having featured in British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in the 90’s. His mother, Kankamol, is from Thailand and he has three more siblings. He studied in the Ipswich school, before deciding to focus on his driving career.

Albon’s Funny Dating Story

Albon is dating Chinese golfer Lily He since 2019. Lily is 23 and a pro in golf, since the age of 17. In an interview she revealed that she first shown interest in Albon after watching Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” and felt connected with the only Asian on the grid. They followed each other on Instagram and later Albon texted Lily, eventually meeting her in person in LA.

Alex Albon Net Worth, Salary and Sponsorship Deals

Albon isn’t one of F1’s top earners, but still makes $3 million per year from his Williams contract. His net worth is estimated at $1 million. He also has many sponsorship deals. Two of them come from Thailand, oil company PTT Lubricants and cider manufacturing company Moose Craft Cider. The other two are Edifice Watches and automotive helmet company, MDM Desings.

• Full name: Alexander Albon Ansusinha
• DOB: 23 March 1996
• Age: 27
• Place of Birth: London, England
• Nationality: Thai-English
• Team: Williams F1 Team
• Race number: #23

Patience Pays Dividends: Albon’s Junior Racing Career

Like many drivers Albon begun karting at a young age, at the age of 8 precisely, and managed to win most of the championships he contested in, until 2011. Unlike many other F1 drivers, though, he didn’t light up the junior formulas, before reaching F1. Starting with Formula Renault 2.0 in 2012, it took him 3 years to take his first win and he finished the 2014 championship third. He then moved to European Formula 3 for 2015, finishing 7th. His next step was GP3 series in 2016, where he improved finishing as runner-up to future F1 rival Charles Leclerc. Two more years in F2 followed and in 2018 he managed to finish third in the championship getting promoted to F1 for 2019.

In his year out of F1, in 2021, Albon also contested in DTM with AlphaTauri, taking a win and a pole and finishing sixth overall.

What Can Albon Achieve In 2023 F1 Season?

The 2023 Williams looks a stable car and faster than its predecessor and Albon looks a good bet for many top10 finishes this year.

Bookmakers give Albon almost no chance of winning the 2023 championship with the odds being around 2000/1 and that’s understandable. The odds are similar for other drivers too, especially the AlphaTauri pairing, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou and his teammate Logan Sargeant, giving Albon a good chance of being on top of all these drivers. We think he is going to have a good year, reflective of his car’s better performance this season and his good form, with P15 in the championship a realistic target.

A shining start for Albon and Williams in Bahrain

Williams arrived in Bahrain hoping that this season they would make another step forward, so there can be more good performances. And it already the season begun better than last year with Albon getting comfortably inside the Q2. He didn’t put a lap in Q2, though, opting to save tyres and start from 15th. In the race Albon got a fine start and moved up positions. The car proved capable of fighting with the other midfield teams and Albon also got advantage of the retirements of Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon. Albon was well into the Top10 in 9th come the final laps, but he lost out to Pierre Gasly in the end. Despite that, he finished in 10th, taking his and Williams first point of the year, comfortably ahead of teammate Sargeant, who had a fine race too.

Brake issues hinder Albon in Saudi Arabia

Coming into the first street track of the season in Jeddah, Albon and Williams were hoping for more points. Although, from qualifying things proved tricky. Albon couldn’t get out of the Q1 this time, finishing in 17th place, while teammate Sargeant didn’t even manage to put up a competitive lap. In the race, things started ok for Albon as he improved to 12th after the safety car which was caused by Lance Stroll led many drivers to pit. In the restart, he lost a place to Nico Hulkenberg with his teammate Sargeant behind him, but on lap 27 he pulled to the slow lane of the main straight with brake issues letting other cars pass him and eventually retired from the race. 

Mistake costs potential big result in Australia

Albon arrived at the Albert Park circuit hoping to forget about Jeddah and have a good weekend at the track that last season got his first point for Williams. He showed speed from the get go and he not only put his car in the Q3 for the first time in 2023 in qualifying, but he also qualified in 8th. Having put himself in a very good position to score some big points he managed to negotiate the first lap of the race safely, avoiding the crash between Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc. He was running a brilliant 6th place, when suddenly he turned into turn 7 very quickly causing the back end of the car to lose control. He crashed heavily in the barrier and retired from the race, with his car spilling gravel all over the track, which caused the first controversial red flag of the day.