Alexander Albon, born 23 March 1996, is an Anglo-Thai racing driver, who made his FIA Formula One World Championship debut during the 2019 season for Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda.[1] The son of former British Touring Car Championship racer Nigel Albon, but racing under a Thai racing license, Albon arrived in F1 after finishing third in the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship, despite having already signed a deal to join Nissan-e.Dams in Formula E.[2]
Albon was a former member of the Red Bull Junior Team, but was dropped shortly before his second season of F2 in 2018.[3] However, after a series of driver changes prior to the 2019 edition of F1, Albon was asked to rejoin the Red Bull family in place of Brendon Hartley at their junior F1 team.[1]
Background
Albon, the son of Nigel Albon an ex-race in the British Touring Car Championship, began his karting career at the age of eight, winning his local Championship in the Cadet class. The following seasons would see Albon compete in higher capacity classes at a national level, before ultimately finishing as runner up in the CIK-FIA World Championship in 2011. That latter triumph earned Albon a role in the Red Bull Junior Team for 2012, with the Anglo-Thai racer moving into single seaters for the year.[3]
Red Bull Racer
Unfortunately for Albon his first venture into single seaters would not go well, with the Anglo-Thai racer failing to score at all during his first campaign in Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup. Indeed, it took Albon a further three seasons in the series before he could secure a decent end-of-season result, by which staged Red Bull had withdrawn their funding. Regardless, Albon would move in the European Formula 3 Championship for 2015, with a number of his own personal sponsors.
A semi-successful season in F3 saw Albon end the season as one of the best rookies of the season, prompting ART Grand Prix to offer him a seat in the GP3 Series for 2016. It was in GP3 that Albon's talent finally had a chance to shine, with the now Thai registered racer going toe-to-toe with the highly rated Charles Leclerc for the title throughout the season.[4] Ultimately, however, Albon would end the 2016 season as runner up to the Monegasque racer, although both found themselves in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for 2017.[4]
F2 Formulation
For 2017 Albon would secure a seat in the newly reforged Formula Two Championship, continuing with ART as he had in GP3.[5] However, whereas GP3 rival Leclerc would go on to dominate the Championship, Albon was only able to finish mid-table, prompting Red Bull to drop him from their junior programme. Furthermore, Albon found himself replaced at ART for 2018 by another young charger in the form of George Russell, although he would ultimately secure a last minute drive with DAMS for the 2018 campaign.[6]
It was a better second season of F2 for Albon, with the Anglo-Thai ace gaining momentum throughout the campaign. Indeed, Albon would head to the season finale in Yas Marina with an outside shot of the title, although he would ultimately drop to third in the table as Russell swept to the crown.[7] Yet, that would be enough for Albon to finally grab a seat in F1, albeit having to first negotiate his way out of a deal to drive for DAMS' Formula E team that he had signed up to earlier in the year.[8]
Formula One Career
Albon's hopes of getting a seat in Formula One had all but disappeared at the start of the 2018 season, with the Anglo-Thai racer dropped from the Red Bull Junior Team.[6] That initially prompted Albon to secure a full race seat with DAMS in the FIA Formula E Championship for the 2018/19 campaign, only for a series of seat changes in F1 to result in Toro Rosso approaching Albon about a seat in F1 for 2019.[9] A month and a half of negotiations would follow, before Albon was officially announced as Toro Rosso's second driver for the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship on the 26 November 2018.[1]
Formula One Statistical Overview
Formula One Record
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 |  Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda[1]
|
Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda
|
Template:Career Results/Points/2019 | Template:Career Results/Position/2019/reverse | Report |
Career Statistics
Template:Statbox
Race Wins
Career Results
Template:Career Results/2019| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | Pts | Pos | ||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
See Also
- Alexander Albon at the Formula Two Wiki.
- Alexander Albon at the Formula E Wiki.
References
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Andrew Benson, 'Alexander Albon: Toro Rosso deal for 2019 for British-born Thai driver', bbc.co.uk/sport, (British Broadcasting Company, 26/11/2018), https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/46350378, (Accessed 26/11/2018)
- ↑ 'Albon and Nissan e.dams part ways', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 26/11/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/november/albon-and-nissan-edams-part-ways/, (Accessed 26/11/2018)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 'Meet Alex Albon, a new addition to the Red Bull Junior Team for 2012.', redbull.com, (Red Bull Gmbh, 31/03/2012), https://www.redbull.com/int-en/introducing-alex-albon, (Accessed 28/06/2018)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Peter Allen, 'Leclerc is GP3 champion despite collision as De Vries wins', formulascout.com, (Formula Scout, 26/11/2016), http://www.formulascout.com/leclerc-is-gp3-champion-despite-collision-as-de-vries-wins/35825, (Accessed 28/06/2018)
- ↑ Valentin Khorounzhiy, 'GP3 runner-up Albon confirmed for GP2 2017 promotion', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 22/02/2017), https://www.motorsport.com/fia-f2/news/gp3-runner-up-albon-confirmed-for-gp2-2017-promotion-875840/, (Accessed 28/06/2018)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jack Benyon, 'F2 form man Albon confirmed for full season with DAMS', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 12/05/2018), https://www.motorsport.com/fia-f2/news/albon-dams-full-season-1036496/?s=1, (Accessed 14/06/2018)
- ↑ 'RUSSELL SOARS TO RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula Two, 24/11/2018), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2018/11_November/Russell-soars-to-race-and-championship-victory/, (Accessed 24/11/2018)
- ↑ 'Buemi and Albon lined up for Nissan e.dams debut season', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 20/09/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/september/buemi-and-albon-lined-up-for-nissan-edams-debut-season/, (Accessed 20/09/2018)
- ↑ 'Albon is favourite for Toro Rosso drive', planetf1.com, (Planet F1, 17/10/2018), https://www.planetf1.com/news/albon-emerges-as-favourite-for-toro-rosso-drive/, (Accessed 18/10/2018)
| V T E |  Scuderia Toro Rosso
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable Personnel Franz Tost · Alex Hitzinger · James Key · Dietrich Mateschitz · Gerhard Berger | |||
| Former drivers Pierre Gasly · Daniil Kvyat · Jaime Alguersuari · Sébastien Buemi · Sébastien Bourdais · Sebastian Vettel · Scott Speed · Vitantonio Liuzzi · Daniel Ricciardo · Jean-Éric Vergne · Max Verstappen · Carlos Sainz, Jr. · Brendon Hartley · Alexander Albon | |||
| Cars STR1 · STR2 · STR2B · STR3 · STR4 · STR5 · STR6 · STR7 · STR8 · STR9 · STR10 · STR11 · STR12 · STR13 · STR14 | |||
| See also Red Bull | |||
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