Alex Albon: Sometimes I still cry!

Journalists from the official website of the championship continue a series of funny interviews with Formula 1 drivers, in which not many questions are related to motorsport, but the conversation is mainly about universal topics. This time the subject of the interview was Alex Albon…

Q: Can you describe yourself in three words somehow?
Alex Albon: Happy, calm and… boring! (laughs)

Q: How did you fall in love with Formula 1? How did it all start?
Alex Albon: Maybe it happened when I was involved in karting and doing tests at Silverstone to get a racing license. I remember Felipe Massa was driving for Sauber in Formula 1 that year, and I heard the sound of V10 racing engines. I was at the karting track, but this sound came there and it made a very strong impression on me.

Q: When did you first drive a car in your life?
Alex Albon: I was about five years old when I first rode a go-kart in Disneyland Paris. It was my very first experience! But I didn’t like it so much that I even burst into tears.

Q: Your attitude has probably changed since then?
Alex Albon: It happens that even now I have tears! (laughs)

Question: Since when did you pass the driving license exam?
Alex Albon: From the second. The first time I failed was when I parallel parked. You had to look over your right shoulder and make sure that there was no cyclist coming from behind, for example. But I didn’t know this, and that’s where it all ended.

Q: Who is your best friend in the paddock?
Alex Albon: I would say it’s Patrick, my coach, we communicate with him the most.

Q: And outside the paddock?
Alex Albon: Lily He, my friend.

Q: How many pets do you have?
Alex Albon: I have 12 cats, a dog and two horses. I think very few Formula 1 drivers understand how to take care of pets. However, I know that Max Verstappen has several cats, and he likes to tell them.

Q: If you were to organize your dream team, which riders would you invite?
Alex Albon: If I were the owner of the team, I would also be one of the drivers. And I would agree with myself about the size of my salary. And I would attend press conferences with the participation of racers and with the participation of team leaders. And since I would be a racer, I would hardly want my partner to be a very strong pilot.

Q: If you could put together a musical group from the racers, who would you invite and what would it be called?
Alex Albon: Maybe Charles Leclerc will play the keyboards. Let’s invite Lewis Hamilton to sing – he seems to do the vocals, right? Although there is always a mystery attached to his musical work. We will also invite Liam Lawson, and Sebastian Vettel will be behind the drums – in my opinion he knows something in this field. The name of the group will be: F1 Sensations.

Q: What would be your ideal lunch menu?
Alex Albon: As a cold starter it would be something very simple: tomatoes and mozzarella. The main course will be something from Thai cuisine and for dessert we serve tiramisu and Thai milk tea. All this is tasty, although not healthy at all.

Q: What was the best advice you ever received?
Alex Albon: When I made my debut in Formula 1, Franz Tost advised me to never give up and to pay less attention to all the external hype that comes with F1. It is very easy to get lost in this, but you have to go your way.

Q: What is the worst advice?
Alex Albon: Maybe I don’t know! I don’t think anyone has given me bad advice.

Q: If you had the chance to try yourself in another profession for a day, what would you choose?
Alex Albon: Maybe this is too obvious an answer, but I would become an astronaut. It would be interesting!

Q: Oscar Piastri said the same thing…
Alex Albon: Yes? Then I won’t repeat myself and give another answer: I would become the owner of a zoo! I like taking care of animals.

Q: What is your proudest achievement in Formula 1?
Alex Albon: What I’m most proud of is that I made it to Formula 1!

Q: What advice would you give aspiring racers?
Alex Albon: There are many talented drivers now and I can only speak for myself. I have managed to get into Formula 1 thanks to my ability to connect with different people and communicate with them. Many people think that achieving fast lap times is the most important thing in motorsport. But it is equally important to get along with key people in the paddock and at the same time show professional maturity.

And it would be nice to be a well-educated person, but there are many racers who quit school at a fairly young age. In this I differ from many, because I believe that general knowledge helps me a lot.

If you are good enough, you will still get into Formula 1, but I think I was able to get into this championship because I knew a lot. I got my second chance for the same reason.

Q: Finally, what would you like to be doing in five years?
Alex Albon: I would like to compete in Formula 1 in five years. I think my age gives me the opportunity to do so. And I would like to become world champion!..