Everything was all good for Alex Albon when he made his Formula One debut... until he got demoted to a reserve driver by Red Bull for the 2021 season.
With only 2 Formula One career podiums that took longer than expected, Albon still couldn’t beat the 2nd Red Bull seat poor performance curse that got him and his predecessor Pierre Gasly demoted. The good news is that Gasly redeemed himself later with his first Grand Prix win in 2020. However, worse followed Alex Albon; Sergio Perez snatched his seat in 2021, has put in incredible performances, and even won a race.
Alex Albon joined Red Bull Racing when the team was trying to close the gap towards the dominant Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, which has Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. He initially impressed but started lagging behind his teammate Max Verstappen in qualifying, on race day, and in the driver standings. This didn't help the Red Bull team in their fight with the Silver Arrows F1 team. It’s probably one of the reasons why Alex Albon got replaced by Sergio Perez, who has proved to be a better teammate to Verstappen and the driver who might help Red Bull topple Mercedes and win the 2021 Constructors Championship. Despite his demotion, Alex Albon has managed to keep his calm on and off the track. He is now only a reserve driver, and many wonder what his fate will be in the sport.
Born in England, Alex Albon is a Thai-British racing driver who worked his way up the motorsport ladder, going through each championship level. He has his eyes set on getting back his Red Bull Formula 1 racing seat to return to the pinnacle of motorsport. Here are 10 interesting facts about Alex Albon.
10 Early Life - Comes From A Racing Family
Alex Albon holds dual nationality, Thai and British. He was born to a Thai mother, Kankamol, and a British Father, Nigel Albon. The latter was a racing driver who took part in several races, including the British Touring Car Championship, GT Series, and the 2002 Sepang endurance race (emerged winner). Alex inherited his racing passion from his father.
Born in a family of five, Albon has three sisters and one brother. He grew up in Bures, Suffolk, and attended Ipswich school. He later dropped out to pursue his racing dreams, citing inspiration from Michael Schumacher and Valentino Rossi at a younger age.
9 His Journey Through The Ranks
As a stepping stone to becoming a Formula One Driver, Alex Albon started taking part in competitive Kart racing aged 8 years in 2005. In 2008, he stepped up to KF3 class where he raced until 2010 collecting several accolades along the way. In 2012, Albon made his debut in single-seaters when he joined Formula Renault Championship.
2015 saw Albon move to FIA European Formula 3 before graduating to GP3 in 2016 where he battled for the championship with Charles Leclerc. Albon then spent two seasons competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship with ART Grand Prix and DAMS. He finally made his Formula One debut with Torro Rosso in 2019 before graduating to Red Bull Racing in the same year.
8 Albon’s Mum Was Jailed For Car Fraud
While aged 15 years, Alex Albon’s mother was jailed for a fraud-related crime. While talking about it in Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive documentary, Albon said it was the hardest year he’s ever had in his life as he saw his mother being taken away and locked up.
Kankamol Albon was found guilty of a $10 million car scam. She used to sell cars to investors at discounted prices, promising them that they’d resell them at profits. It turned out that the majority of investors never saw the cars. She was released from jail in 2015. In the Netflix series, Albon’s mother concluded by saying Albon had already forgiven her.
7 Almost Missed Out On A Formula One Seat
Alex Albon made his Formula One debut in 2019, but it wasn’t as straightforward as many may think — he almost missed out. Following Albon’s conclusion of the Formula 2 series, he signed to race in Formula E (Nissan Formula E team) because he couldn’t secure a seat in Formula One. However, he got lucky in a sudden change of events in 2019 where a chance presented itself in Toro Rosso — Red Bull’s junior team.
For Albon, stars had aligned. After just 11 races with Torro Rosso, Albon was offered a drive at Red Bull Racing, with Pierre Gasly getting demoted and going the other way. At the end of the season, team boss Christian Horner was impressed by Albon and retained him for the 2020 season.
6 Only Thai Driver With A Formula 1 Podium Finish
Formula One is very competitive; there are only 20 slots available worldwide — it’s a big deal for a country to have their driver in the sport. Alex Albon has had impressive performances since he was a rookie. He had to wait until 2020 to get his first podium finish, which made him the first Thai Formula 1 driver to achieve the feat.
In a chaos-packed weekend, Albon snatched his first-ever podium from Ricciardo with 8 laps to go at the Tuscan Grand Prix, finishing 3rd. It was a significant victory for him following the criticism and speculation there was concerning his future. Alex Albon’s 2nd second Formula One podium came in the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.
5 Social Life, Earnings, And Net Worth
Outside Formula One, Albon is a loving and very romantic guy. He’s yet to get married but is in a relationship with Lily Muni, a professional golf player. The two have been dating since 2019 and have occasionally been spotted going out on vacations and visiting different places. When it comes to religion, he practices Buddhism.
At Red Bull, details about how much he earns are scarce, but it’s estimated he pocketed around $240,000/week in 2020. It was an improvement on the $180,000 he earned at Toro Rosso. According to eCelebrity Spy, Alex Albon’s net worth is around $500,000.
4 Alex Albon's Drive Off The Track
Formula 1 drivers have a high-profile lifestyle and splash on fast and sleek-looking cars that can help them drive on edge even off the track. Other times, they get free cars from manufacturers that sponsor their F1 team because they are the most popular employees in the sport.
Alex Albon is a sucker for classic cars, but with Honda working with RedBull Racing, it’s not a surprise that his ride of choice is a modern Honda Civic Type R. He also owns an Aston Martin DB11 — a product of the automaker's previous partnership with Red Bull. Before these cars, Alex Albon used to drive his dad’s 2010 Mini Cooper.
3 Multiple Unlucky Podium Misses When Battling Lewis Hamilton
Winning or finishing in the podium places is what every F1 driver aims for in every race. As pre-stated, in two years in Formula One, Alex Albon has only finished on the podium on two occasions. But he could have achieved more podium finishes were it not for two unfortunate crashes with Lewis Hamilton during races in which he was poised to be on the podium at the end.
The first was in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, where Albon looked set for a 2nd place finish. A botched overtaking attempt by Hamilton led to his car touching the rear of Albon’s car. It led to a spin, but the F1 Champion got penalized later for the incident and lost his podium finish. In Austria the following season, Albon spent much of the race in third until his overtaking attempt on Hamilton led to a racing incident that resulted in the car drifting to gravel on the side. Both of these incidents caused a stir in F1 circles as Red Bull, and Mercedes are fierce competitors, and Albon hadn’t achieved a podium finish when they happened.
2 He’s Currently A Red Bull Formula 1 Reserve Driver
Formula One has repeatedly shown that it’s a harsh world if one doesn’t perform according to a team’s expectations. The future is never guaranteed for any Formula One driver. Alex Albon had a promising career at Red Bull between 2019 and 2020. However, he has since been demoted to a reserve and development driver for the team from the 2021 season.
Albon couldn’t hide frustrations while speaking in one of the interviews. He said that “It hurts” following his demotion just five days after the end of the 2020 season — it’s something he never saw coming. But that’s not the end of the road for Albon; he hopes to make a return to Formula One with Red Bull or Williams Racing, who are rumored to be eyeing him for the 2022 season.
1 Also Involved With Other Motorsports Apart From Formula 1
Romain Grosjean left Formula 1 following the conclusion of the 2020 season and ventured into IndyCar in the United States. IndyCar seems to be a new attraction for Alex Albon as he has been seen hanging out with Roman Grosjean during Indycar events. Albon said he is tempted to join IndyCar if he fails to secure a Formula One seat soon.
Alex Albon was also involved in the DRM race held at Nürburgring in 2021. He was with the Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse team and was driving a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020. After getting pole, he fought hard in an eventful race to get his career's first DTM win.