Alex Albon tells how Marco offered him a contract

Alex Albon finished the 2018 season in third place in Formula 2 and was preparing to continue his career in electric Formula E, but unexpectedly Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko offered him a contract with Toro Rosso. In the latest episode of the High Performance podcast, Alex recalled these events and shared the details.

Alex Albon: “Formula E is the best option to continue your career if you cannot go to Formula 1. I was offered a contract in Formula E and I thought: “Great, a great option.”

Before signing the contract, I called Helmut Marko, the boss of the Red Bull youth program, and asked if I at least had a chance of a seat in Formula 1, or should I sign a contract with Formula E? He answered me: “There are no open places, no opportunity.”

At that moment I was upset. I not only asked about a place at Red Bull, but also about possible opportunities in Formula 1, but there were none. Then I thought: “Okay, so Formula E.” And I was completely focused on this series.

Three or four months before the last race of the Formula 2 season, I signed a contract to participate in Formula E. During the last stage, Helmut Marko asked if I was ready to work on the simulator. His assistant invited me to Helmut and we talked about working on the simulator.

At that time I was already working on the Mercedes simulator and I thought Helmut wanted to know how much I earned at Mercedes. I told him a large number and he said, “Okay, can I take a look?”

I thought, “Great, he agreed to my contract terms to work on the simulator!” I decided that we were talking about periodic work, but Helmut kept talking about the contract. When I left the office he asked: “How is your contract in Formula E? Do you have the ability to break it?”

When I signed the contract to participate in Formula E, I included a clause that if I received an offer from the Formula 1 team, I could leave. So I answered Helmut: “Yes, that is true.” And he replied, “Okay, I’ll get back to you.”

And within the next 24 hours everything was done. A day later he literally called me and said, “We agree on everything, and in about an hour we will make a statement to the press.” That’s how I became a Formula 1 driver.”