“My First Thought When I Came Out of the Coma…”: Alex Albon Narrates Emotional Tale on Loyalty in the Sport

Alex Albon returned to the Formula 1 grid with a blast. Winning 4 points, half of that Williams won in 2022 was no extraordinary feat, let alone the fact that he drove his FW44 on a single set of tires for 57 laps during last year’s Australian GP. But there was one hindrance that affected his performance and broke the flow, and it was his appendicitis surgery. 

The Thai-British driver was hospitalized after he suffered respiratory failure and was placed on a ventilator after complications occurred following his appendicitis surgery. However, after he came out of the coma, the driver wasn’t worried at all about his own health but was instead concerned about Williams’ performance during the weekend that he missed.

As shared on Twitter, in an excerpt from the team’s 2023 livery launch, Albon said, “My first thought when I came out of the coma was, where did my team mates qualify? I wanted to be in that car more than anyone else. I knew we could have done a good job, and I weirdly felt like I let the team down and I should have been there. And I wasn’t.” 

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This is the kind of display that we rarely see from the driver’s end in modern times, where they are less appreciative of their crew but more critical. Drivers like Alex Albon may not be the most aggressive in Formula One. But if you are a team principal, you’d die to have a driver like him on your team.

Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant working together as a team

Williams has been a backmarker for a long time now, with their last win coming in 2012. And though Williams fans must be looking for some great news, there seems to be no substantial progress as per Alex Albon’s statements as quoted by Autosport.

Autosport also quoted him as saying, “So areas like that there’s a common goal to improve the car and those areas, it’s not just myself. The goals are pretty clear.”

“Logan, even last year, he had similar feedback, he knows the problems in the car, it’s not totally new to him, the feeling of the car. He gets where the car needs to be quicker.”

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According to Albon’s statements, the team knows the areas of weakness highlighted by himself, Logan, and Nicholas Latifi last year. However, the driver believes the team can turn things around and make things work together.