“I Knew I Belonged”: Alex Albon Recalls Short-Lived Ecstasy Before Max Verstappen Caused Red Bull Exit

Following Daniel Ricciardo’s departure from Red Bull at the end of the 2018 season, the next couple of seasons were quite dramatic for the Milton Keynes team. One driver left abruptly, one driver demoted with only half a season under the belt, and another grossly underprepared for Formula 1, propelled to the second fastest car on the grid. In hindsight, this sounds like the exact recipe for the disaster that was the Red Bull‘s second seat for seasons at a time.

However, living through those days, the feelings were definitely different. Here was Alex Albon, who was having a wonderful rookie year with Toro Rosso. Halfway through the season, he was called up by Dr Helmut Marko, and his life was never the same again. With less than 2 weeks to prepare, he was all set to replace Pierre Gasly as the second driver. While he had a half-decent first year, the under-preparation showed, as he was eventually shown the door in favor of the much more experienced Sergio Perez.

How Alex Albon was in a Bubble until his Red Bull step-up

Speaking about his rookie year on the High Performance Podcast, Alex Albon stated, “I was getting very comfortable at Toro Rosso. I started off well. Had a good first test and then the first few races, started to have good races, out-qualified my teammate a few times. I was kind of living in this dream, where the pressure was getting less and less after each race. After the first race, I knew I belonged.”

In fact, he was enjoying racing more than he thought he would. However, it was not going to be all smooth for the Thai racing driver. Over the summer break, Helmut Marko called Albon for a meeting in his Austria office. Albon was under the impression that this was about his residency situation, as Marko was assisting the now-Williams driver with a move to Monaco at the time.

At the end of the conversation, a mere two hours before the announcement, he dropped the bomb. He said, “Oh, by the way, you’re in the Red Bull seat.” Marko also gave Albon a fair warning though, “Your teammate is pretty much one of the best drivers in the world, so good luck.”

Also read: Alex Albon Reveals Horrifying Story of Helmut Marko Catching Him Lying During Red Bull Interview

We all know what happened next. After a decent rookie season, Albon only managed to score 2 podiums and finished seventh in the championship. In hindsight, even the Thai driver knows what he could have done better, and what went wrong during his time at Red Bull.

Albon’s take on his premature promotion

“I think in hindsight, it was probably a bit too early. I was definitely not prepared enough for my first year to be in that team,” admits Albon later on in the podcast. He went into great detail about how more than his driving, it was everything around that caused more pressure. The spotlight on him, the scrutiny, and also the tension around the whole seat swap was massive.

On top of that, his lack of experience in setting up the car and giving feedback also came to bite him in his backside. While the first season was pretty decent, the car changed in the second season. The car became more difficult to drive, and his lack of experience meant, he was not able to figure out how he could get the most out of his car.

“The car became much more tricky to drive. That’s especially where experience helps to get you out of these problems. I didn’t know what direction the car needed to go in. I didn’t know how to drive around these problems”. On the other hand, the Thai driver had to contend with Max Verstappen being his teammate. “I had a driver (teammate) who could drive pretty much anything, didn’t really affect him too much.”

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Unfortunately, this triggered the beginning of the end for Alex Albon’s short-lived career at Red Bull.