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AUSTIN, Texas — Alex Albon sat at a table with media members at the top of Williams’ hospitality unit at Circuit of the Americas, fielding questions about his career and the team’s position on the grid.
It seemed like a normal media session. The Thai-British driver sported a Williams cap and long sleeves as a breeze occasionally swept through the paddock. But in front of Albon rested two platters of cupcakes with a fancy “A” and the number “100” printed on top of the frosting.
The 28-year-old joined the grid in 2019 alongside Lando Norris and George Russell, but the United States Grand Prix weekend marks Albon’s 100th race — just his. Albon navigated a meteoric rise to Red Bull, being promoted to the team during his rookie season, and was sidelined in 2021 while the rest of the 2019 class raced on. Russell and Norris passed the milestone last season, more than 20 races ago.
It has been a roller coaster, but he’s (naturally) grown throughout the process. One of the kindest drivers on the grid is learning how to become more selfish.
“After 100 races, or about to hit 100 races, it’s almost like you forget to appreciate what you’re in,” Albon told The Athletic before Formula One arrived in Texas. “There’s often a lot of times where you kind of have to take a moment to realize that I’m in my dream, that I’m living my dream, and I’ve been spending quite a long time living my dream as well.
“So it’s very special.”
Albon’s earliest memory of driving a go-kart wasn’t at your typical race track. It was at Disneyland Paris when he was five years old, and it was not love at first drive.
“I hated it, and I started crying,” the Williams driver recalls, “and my dad had to pick me up and basically, I couldn’t drive it at all. I was too scared to drive it.”
That moment starkly contrasted how his father feels about motorsports. Albon said his father loved it and would do a race here and there. “He kind of thought to himself, like, ‘What’s happened to my son?’ Like, ‘My son doesn’t enjoy it like I do.’”
Albon tried go-karting again when he was seven years old, and it was a very different experience. He thoroughly enjoyed being in the driver’s seat and says he wasn’t scared that time.
“That’s what starts the positive spiral.”
It was around that same age that Albon attended his first F1 race. Seeing the car go around for the first time, he was captivated by the speed and sound. He said, “It’s so quick and so loud, it was almost intimidating but exciting at the same time to see Formula One cars on a circuit.”
Growing up, Albon describes himself as “a bit more of a pessimist as a kid.” It was not that he knew he’d one day compete in the pinnacle of motorsport but, rather, “I’m going to do everything I can to be in Formula One.”
He began racing competitively in karting at eight years old and continued to impress, finishing first across multiple categories as he climbed the ranks. In 2012, he graduated to single-seaters, racing in the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup series until he made the switch to European Formula Three in 2015. He moved to GP3 the following year and finished runner-up in the championship to Charles Leclerc.
Albon’s Formula Two debut came in 2017, another fairly competitive chapter of his career. He finished that season with 86 points and in tenth place but came in third with 212 points in 2018, just seven points behind second-place Norris and 75 points behind championship winner Russell.
It looked like Albon was set to compete in Formula E, the all-electric series, the next year until Toro Rosso, now known as RB, came knocking. The driver made his F1 debut in 2019 and stayed with the sister team for 12 races before the Red Bull promotion.
(Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
“I see it more that I reached a top team when I wasn’t really the person I am now. I don’t regret any of it. You always will take an opportunity if you get one, but I really just needed a little bit more time to get comfortable and to adapt and understand,” Albon said during a media session in Austin. “I think the main thing is, when I think about when I first joined, I didn’t have a manager. I didn’t have anyone else.
“I was really alone learning F1 as it came. I came off a very late call-up to F1, so everything was always just getting fast-tracked, and then I got fast-tracked to Red Bull. And at the time, it feels great, but in reflection, I realized just how underprepared I was.”
Though his Red Bull chapter had multiple highs, Albon struggled to match Max Verstappen’s performance in 2020. Sergio Pérez was brought in instead.
Albon spent the hiatus as a test and reserve driver for Red Bull but also reflected on his strengths and weaknesses. He knew he wanted to return to the grid but, “It was just trying to find the right team and have a team that would take me in.” As doors started closing, he did have a Plan B.
“I went to Indianapolis around June time that year to look at IndyCar and see what seats were available. I started to speak to Formula E teams and see what was available there,” Albon said in Austin. “And then fortunately had a chat with Jost (Capito, then-Williams team principal).”
Albon received a recommendation from Russell, who previously raced for the team, and “did a couple of sim days at Williams just to learn the car, learn the team, and from then on, we just seem to understand each other.”
He signed the contract and has been there since, opting to extend his contract this year.
Over the last 99 grands prix (and numerous sprint races), Albon can see how he’s grown, whether it be public speaking and how he addresses the factory or the maturity needed as a team leader. He’s begun understanding the mechanics and “the physics of driving a Formula One car on a more of an engineering level.”
But one of the biggest was learning to stand up for himself.
“In the beginning, when you start Formula One, you start your career, you’re just there to impress. You’re just there. It is truly surviving. You want that one-year deal, and you just want another one,” Albon said. “And so anything that comes around, you say yes to. It can be anything.
“‘Okay, we have an older floor, we have a thing.’ That’s fine, I’ll deal with that. Or, ‘got a new upgrade coming on,’ and that’s whatever it may be. But then it can go the other way. ‘Got four marketing days in a row.’ Okay, when do I leave?’ (That) kind of thing. So, as time went on, you realize actually prioritizing myself (matters). I think I was a little bit too selfless in that way, and now I’ve become more selfish.”
Hitting 100 grands prix is a milestone, though one that may have lost its shine over time.
Albon doesn’t expect it to be emotional, even though it is a significant achievement in one’s career. As he noted, not many F1 drivers have reached 100 races. Jackie Stewart didn’t, for example. He only competed in 99. Nearly 800 drivers have started an F1 grand prix, but Albon is the 80th to reach 100 starts. Nowadays, though, there are more than 20 grands prix on the calendar, this year’s slate nearing the limit with 24 race weekends. Fernando Alonso, for example, is nearing 400 grands prix.
“It would take you twice the time 15 years ago to reach 100 races,” Albon said to The Athletic. “Already, I’m in, I guess you could call it, a select few.”
The 28-year-old is in his fifth season of F1, which he feels “isn’t that much.” He added that that’s a short period of time in other top sports. He jokingly called himself “the late bloomer” of his friend groups since he’s the last to hit 100 races.
In some ways, Albon does feel like he’s in the early days of his career.
“There’s a presumption that I’m one of the experienced people in Formula One, but because I took a year away in 2021, I’m still relatively inexperienced to all the drivers in F1,” Albon said. “Next year, there’s going to be a whole new kind of refresh with Kimi (Antonelli) and Ollie (Bearman) joining and Liam (Lawson). But for now, I’m still the third or fourth least experienced driver in F1, which is crazy to me.
“There’s a lot of old people in F1.”
Top photo: Williams Racing; Kym Illman, Chris Graythen/Getty Images; Design: Meech Robinson/The Athletic
