Alex Albon
Alexander Philippe Albon Ansusinha is a Thai and British racing driver who competes under the Thai flag in Formula One for Williams.
Born in Westminster and raised in Suffolk, Albon is the son of English racing driver Nigel Albon and his Thai wife, as well as the nephew of Mark Albon. After a successful karting career—culminating in his victories at the junior direct-drive World Cup and European Championship in 2010—Albon graduated to junior formulae. Following three seasons in the Formula Renault Eurocup from 2012 to 2014, Albon progressed to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in. He moved to the GP3 Series for 2016, finishing runner-up to Charles Leclerc in his rookie season with ART. Graduating to FIA Formula 2 in, Albon finished third in the championship the following season with DAMS.
Previously a member of the Red Bull Junior Team from 2008 to 2012, Albon signed for Toro Rosso in, making his Formula One debut at the ; after 12 races, he was promoted to parent team Red Bull, replacing Pierre Gasly to partner Max Verstappen. In, he became the first Thai driver to achieve a podium in Formula One at the, which he repeated in Bahrain. Replaced by Sergio Pérez in, Albon continued as a reserve driver for Red Bull and the re-branded AlphaTauri, contesting DTM with Red Bull AF Corse alongside Liam Lawson. Albon signed for Williams in to replace George Russell, ending his association with Red Bull at the conclusion of his first season. He remained at Williams through the,, and seasons, finishing eighth—the highest of the midfield drivers—in the latter.
As of the, Albon has achieved podium finishes and one fastest lap in Formula One. Albon is contracted to remain at Williams until at least the end of the 2027 season.
Early life
Alexander Philippe Albon Ansusinha was born at the Portland Hospital in the City of Westminster, London, England, on 23 March 1996. His father, Nigel Albon is a British former racing driver who participated in the British Touring Car Championship and Porsche Carrera Cup. His mother, Kankamol "Minky" Albon, originates from Thailand. His uncle, Mark Albon, is a former racing driver who competed in one round of International Formula 3000.Growing up in Bures, Suffolk alongside a younger brother, Luca, and three sisters, Chloe, Zoe and Alicia, Albon attended Ipswich School before leaving to pursue his professional racing career, citing Michael Schumacher and Valentino Rossi as being inspirational figures when he was younger.
Junior racing career
Karting (2005–2011)
Albon started competitively racing karts in 2005 at the age of eight, competing locally and winning his local Hoddesdon Championship at Rye House Kart Circuit. In 2006, Albon started racing in the cadet class, finishing first at the Kartmasters British Grand Prix and participating in the Super 1 National Honda Cadet Championship finishing first in 2006 and second in 2007. In 2008, he was signed to the Red Bull Junior Team and moved up to the KF3 class, where he stayed until 2010. During this time, Albon won the Kartmasters British Grand Prix, Formula Kart Stars Championship, KF Winter Series, Super 1 National KF3 Championship, CIK-FIA World Cup, and CIK-FIA European Championship. In 2011, Albon graduated to KF1 placing second in the WSK Euro Series and second at the CIK-FIA World Championship.Formula Renault 2.0 (2012–2014)
2012: Junior formulae debut
From karting, Albon graduated to the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup series where he drove for EPIC Racing in 2012 alongside Kevin Giovesi, Konstantin Tereschenko, Kevin Jörg, Dennis Wusthoff and Christof von Grunigen and finished 38th out of 49 in the championship after having a tough year and being unable to score points. Albon was dropped by Red Bull at the end of 2012.2013: Maiden pole position
In 2013, Albon was signed to Lotus F1 Academy and joined KTR to race in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 season alongside Yu Kanamaru and Ignazio D'Agosto, finishing 16th out of 36 in the championship. Albon managed to secure one fastest lap and one pole position in the 2013 season, both of them coming at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. He finished the 2013 season with 22 points.2014: Third in the Eurocup
In 2014, Albon raced alongside Gregor Ramsay, Jules Gounon and Callan O'Keefe and enjoyed a much more successful year. He was once again unable to find a win at any of the 14 races but managed to get one pole position at the Nürburgring and finished 3rd in the drivers' championship with 117 points.Formula Three (2015)
In 2015, Albon switched to FIA European Formula 3, racing at Signature with teammate Dorian Boccolacci. He finished seventh overall, with two pole positions, 5 podiums, and 187 points overall.GP3 Series (2016)
In December 2015, Albon partook in post-season testing with ART Grand Prix. In 2016, Albon raced for ART in the GP3. Albon claimed four wins and finished as runner-up in the championship to teammate Charles Leclerc.FIA Formula 2 (2017–2018)
2017: Rookie season and maiden podiums
In 2017, Albon graduated to the FIA Formula 2 Championship, with ART. His teammate for the season would be Nobuharu Matsushita, who at the time was also signed as a development driver for McLaren. He made his debut in Bahrain, where he started in 9th place on the starting grid for the feature race and finished 6th. For the sprint race, Albon qualified 3rd on the grid, behind Luca Ghiotto and his teammate, Matsushita. However, mechanical problems forced Matsushita to start from the pitlane promoting Albon to second. Albon struggled for grip for the majority of the race and finished in 7th position.At the Spanish round, Albon placed 3rd on the provisional starting grid for the feature race. Charles Leclerc led into turn one, but found himself under fire from Ghiotto and Albon after locking up. Leclerc began to pull away from Ghiotto, who began to fall into the clutches of Albon, who subsequently made a move into turn one and took second place from Ghiotto. Leclerc pitted on lap seven, along with Matsushita, leaving Albon with the lead of the race. Sergio Canamasas ground to a halt on lap 10 owing to problems with the car. Despite this, he did not pull off the track to retire – instead remaining on the track and gesturing to the marshals asking for a push-start. The dangerous position of the car initially brought out the virtual safety car and eventually, the safety car itself. As the race resumed, Leclerc and Ghiotto began to scythe through the pack. Oliver Rowland eventually pressured Albon into a mistake to take the lead of the race, although both still had an impending pitstop to make. With the fresh rubber, Albon and Rowland were staging a comeback with both drivers challenging for the podium toward the latter stages of the race, Albon later finished the race in 5th position. In the sprint race, Albon started 4th on the grid and enjoyed a well-fought battle with Leclerc for the majority of the race and after battling for several laps, Leclerc finally passed Albon for fifth place. Later in the race however Albon dropped back, finishing the race in 8th position.
At the Monaco round, Albon qualified second on the grid with a time of 1:19.321 seconds. In qualifying, the grid was separated into two Groups due to safety concerns over the short and tight nature of the circuit. Albon was part of the 'Group B' qualifying and managed to gain the fastest time in that group, only qualifying 12 hundredths of a second behind Leclerc who qualified in Group A. After an aborted start due to Antonio Fuoco and Sean Gelael's engines stalling on the grid, Leclerc led into the first corner, followed by Albon. A concertina effect occurred at the Grand Hotel Hairpin as Canamasas was spun, causing Gelael to lose his front wing and bringing out a local yellow. Later in the race, Albon found himself stuck behind the slower moving Norman Nato and Jordan King, which eventually caused him to lose places, finishing the race in a disappointing 4th position. In the Sprint Race, Albon started 5th on the grid, and after a very tight race, he dropped back to finish in 6th position. Albon missed the Baku round of the Championship due to injury. Albon had sustained a broken collarbone whilst out on a mountain biking training ride, and was unable to compete due to the over-the-shoulder seat belts used in Formula 2.
Albon was back in action for the fifth round of the championship, stating that his initial feeling on returning to action after breaking his collarbone was "a lot better" than he expected. He confirmed that the bone was still "clearly broken" following an x-ray on the Tuesday before the race weekend, and explained that the main issue he is having in the car is a "numb feeling" from the scar he received during successful surgery after the crash. Albon finished the practice session in 8th, which showed that despite the injury, the chance for his first podium in Formula 2 was a possibility. Albon qualified in 4th for the Feature Race, however, he was later promoted to third on the provisional starting grid after Sérgio Sette Câmara was disqualified after the qualifying session after failing to provide the required 1 litre fuel sample. Albon finished the Feature Race in 5th position, after losing places to Oliver Rowland and Nicholas Latifi whose car proved to have a lot of pace. For the Sprint Race, Albon started the race 4th on the grid and managed to move up the grid to clinch his first podium in Formula 2, finishing behind Artem Markelov. He would later score another podium at the sprint race at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, finishing in second after being overtaken by Leclerc on the final lap. He finished 10th in the drivers' championship in his first F2 season, scoring 86 points.
2018: Third to Russell and Norris
In April 2018, DAMS announced that they signed Albon for the 2018 season to partner Nicholas Latifi. While initially only confirmed for the opening round, he was later confirmed as a full-time driver for the team the following month. He started the season with fourth place in the feature race in Bahrain before finishing thirteenth in the sprint race.For the next round in Baku, Albon started from pole for the feature race and followed it up with his first win in F2, while in the sprint race he finished thirteenth again.
At the next two rounds in Barcelona and Monaco, Albon took two more pole positions but finished fifth in the feature race in Spain after getting away slowly while in the sprint he finished second behind Jack Aitken. In Monaco, however, it was a weekend to forget for the Thai driver, as in the feature race, he collided with Nyck de Vries as he was entering the pitlane, spinning him around in the pitlane entrance, while in the sprint race he collided with Campos' Roy Nissany approaching the Nouvelle Chicane.
Another retirement would follow in the feature race at Le Castellet after Albon suffered an engine failure. In the sprint race, he finished seventh, one place ahead of Latifi. After finishing fifth in both races at the Red Bull Ring, Albon won the feature race at Silverstone, before collecting two more wins at the sprint race at the Hungaroring, and the feature race at Sochi. A stall on the grid in the feature race at Abu Dhabi ended his title chances; he finished fourteenth in the feature race and eighth in the sprint race, leaving him third in the drivers' championship behind fellow future F1 drivers George Russell and Lando Norris.