Alexander Albon has shared a previously unknown story about how he pulled himself together after losing his seat at Red Bull and spending a year out of Formula 1, and how he argued for himself to the Williams team boss.
Albon was promoted from sub-team to senior team by Red Bull faster than anyone else, managing to do so in his first season in 2019 after 12 races, after his employers replaced him with Pierre Gasly who had performed poorly alongside Max. Verstappen.
Naturally, the then 23-year-old also fell into deep waters alongside the Dutchman, who was on his way to world fame, but during his season and a half, he was recording more consistently sub-podium places in that period. When Formula 1 was still witnessing the era of dominance by Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton.
Despite his two third-place finishes in 2020, his contract was not extended at the end of the season, and he was replaced by Sergio Perez from 2021, who has also received a lot of criticism in the past three years for falling far behind Verstappen’s level. .
Albon spent the 2021 season in the DTM championship and was already eyeing an IndyCar race, but continued to fight for a return to the Formula 1 grid now independent of Red Bull. The Thai driver spoke in detail on High Performance about how he tried to prove that it was wrong to stigmatize him for trailing Verstappen.
“Everyone would probably do it in my place: I did the statistics,” Albon revealed. – I compared myself to Pierre Gasly, who I replaced in the Red Bull session, and to Sergio, who followed me. They were very simple stats and most of them were comparisons to Max. “I took into account about ten aspects, such as time trial and race performance, and an Excel spreadsheet was prepared.”
“In my troubled year, Max usually qualified between third and fifth, and in most races he finished third or fourth. I was 3-4 tenths of a second slower than him, and in some cases he was only 11-12. I recovered, which seemed like a result “Disastrous.”
“However, the following year the car was usually good for one of the top two places as Lewis and Max competed for the championship. Meanwhile, Chico took fourth, third and fifth places, but the gap separating him from Max was greater than the gap that separated me when I was teammate On Max’s team. It turns out that no matter how bad my year was, I still performed better than my teammate before and after me. I had this statistic in my hand, but I didn’t know what to do with it! I ended up giving it to some team captains and so on “It all started.”
Albon finally found a new home at Williams in 2022 after impressing then-team manager Jost Capito. The driver is sure that the statistics he generated not only convinced the German leader, but that he personally sat at the negotiating table, that Red Bull’s improved form validates his work in the simulator, and that George, who is leaving the team Russell also had some good words for Capito on his behalf.
“Maybe he already had that statistic, as most teams have a lot of analysis about all the riders and they know our strengths and weaknesses that we don’t even know about ourselves,” Albon added. “But it was good to be able to give him that sheet, which shows what “I can do it, and he finally gave me the chance.”
The Thai racer has found his reckoning not only in the Excel table, but also at Williams, where he comfortably defeated Nicholas Latifi last year and this year Logan Sargent has succeeded in rebuilding his reputation even with a team that rarely manages to score points, and around the paddock they believe he deserves Another opportunity with a great team.
