“I couldn’t watch” admits Alex Albon after a year on the Red Bull bench

There's no doubt about it, but being a pilot one day Formula 1 is necessarily a feat. With twenty places allocated each year, some of which are locked for many years, the opportunities to access the elite of the car are becoming rare. So for Alex Albon, who was established at Red Bull after only six months spent on the side ofAlpha Tauri, the emotional lift was undoubtedly intense. Because after a year and a half spent alongside Max Verstappen, the Thai's mixed results pushed the team to turn to a new driver, in the person of Sergio Pérez. A relegation to the position of reserve pilot experienced as a real trauma by Albon, who confided in the Beyond The Grid podcast this week.

" It hurts "

“It killed me. It killed me, it was terrible, He says. I was told that I would no longer be a racing driver quite late, I think it was December. They still believed in me and still trusted me, Christian [Horn] and Helmut [Marko], everyone at Red Bull, and I still have a great relationship with them.

But from my side, it was more or less like: 'I want to be in F1. I feel like I'm the hungriest driver I know, how can I get back to that?.' I had to do the best job possible from the start and show my value, even without driving, with all the extras. »

Barely time to digest the news when Albon takes refuge in work, working to respect his role as reserve driver at Red Bull, and also of development, on a single-seater which will be world champion a few months later. in the hands of Max Verstappen.

“Arriving in Bahrain for the first three days of winter testing, I don't know if you remember, but the car was fast from the start. I listened to Max and Checo [Perez] on the radio, Checo was new but Max had driven the previous car and was saying how much better the rear end was, more stable. It hurts a little bit because at the same time you're like, 'This is great, I feel like I contributed to this.'

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People like Adrian [Newey] gave me a lot of credit for that. I don't want to say I helped massively, but I feel like I contributed. The first races... it was terrible, I was still a reserve driver, so I had to go to every race, but just being there, I couldn't watch. I would sit and try to stay away as much as possible. »

Over time, the Thai ended up taking his role with more perspective and less bitterness. Like a Esteban Ocon, who also found himself on the sidelines in 2019, taking advantage of this period to satisfy the needs of Mercedes in a role similar to that of Albon at Red Bull. Like the Frenchman, the latter wanted to take advantage of this exclusion, as he explains in the rest of the podcast:

“What I found important to do was simply listen to the feedback from Max and Checo, I also listened to their engineers… and I took bits and pieces from them. As a driver, but also in terms of their personality, how did they interact with the team and how did they learn.

It was quite interesting to step back from the spotlight and the paddock in that way, and look at things from a different perspective. »

But since then, like Esteban Ocon or a Kevin Magnussen this season, Alex Albon has returned to the paths leading to F1. In a more important role this time, within the stable Williams. And proof of his good adaptation in the team, the Thai achieved a completely unexpected tenth place in Australia following a stint on hard tires of almost 57 laps (!!), thus bringing the first (and the unique for the moment) point of the season at Williams. As a great thinker of the XNUMXst century said, things have finally turned out for Albon.

Look who's on #F1BeyondTheGrid! 😃

We're delighted to welcome @alex_albon to the podcast this week where he talks about losing his F1 seat, his dream return in 2022 + more 🙌#F1 https://t.co/NqZJl3DOOd

- Formula 1 (@ F1) April 27, 2022