Alex Albon: The Journey From Formula E to Red Bull Racing

Thai driver Alex Albon has officially been announced as a Red Bull recruit from the Belgian Grand Prix onwards. He will be replacing Pierre Gasly, who will take over his place at Toro Rosso.

Thought-provokingly, he very nearly did not have an F1 debut and was in another series instead. To be precise, had the Fates worked differently, he would have been racing in Formula E for Nissan. Had Toro Rosso not approached him, Alex Albon would have partnered former Toro Rosso driver, Sebastien Buemi.

In 2005, Albon, like every racing driver, began his racing career in karting and his career has been on the upsurge since. In 2012, he joined the Formula Renault 2.0, but endured a tough stint there. However, in 2015, he switched to European Formula 3 and was fairly successful there. A year later, Alex Albon was in GP3 and enjoyed one of his most rewarding seasons, finishing runner-up to a certain, Charles LeClerc.

In 2017, he made the next step in his career by joining the FIA Formula 2 championship. In 2018, Albon finished 3rd, losing only to fellow F1 2019 graduates, George Russell and Lando Norris.

For the 2018-2019 Formula E season, Alex Albon was signed by Nissan e.dams to partner Sébastien Buemi after they let go of long-time driver, Nicolas Prost. However, he was released before the start of that season to drive for Toro Rosso in the 2019 Formula One season.

Understandably, Toro Rosso were forced to jump though several hoops before finally convincing Nissan to release Albon. The Anglo-Thai driver did manage to get some practice in the Formula E car prior to the Toro Rosso call-up. Coming to his stint in Formula One for Toro Rosso, Alex Albon was a picture of consistency, having retired from just one race. He currently lies 15th in the championship on 16 points. However, with the Red Bull call-up, he can be expected to catapult up the championship standings.