F1 Driver Alex Albon Replies to Fans on the Internet

Hey GQ it's Alex Albon.

Today I'm going undercover on the internet.

It's actually me.

[upbear music]

[electronic beeping]

So let's go through some Twitter questions or tweets

I guess it is.

First one from Allie.

Hey Alex Albon

how does it feel to be the second tallest F1 driver

in history?

Is that a real status?

I'm six two

which isn't that tall.

Formula one drivers are all very short.

It's actually a bad thing in Formula One

because it normally carries weight.

Weight's not good in F1 and it makes me very lanky.

Replied.

Next tweet from Rich.

Not watching F1 2023 season for the racing

watching to see what Alex Albon does with his hair.

When I'm traveling around the world

I've been looking at hairdressers.

When can I bleach it?

When do I need to do just a tone?

There's a whole logistical side to keeping my hair

blondy-white.

So when I first dyed my hair, I scored points

which was a big, big deal for us, last year

and it felt like a bit of a tradition

and every single time I dyed my hair, I had a good result.

It's not a great superstition to have because it's actually

it's not as simple as wearing a a bracelet or something.

It's actually takes a bit of effort.

Next question from Bart Crosley, thought on Vegas?

It's gonna be interesting, Vegas.

I feel like it's not your normal Formula One race.

It's clearly going to be

a big show

which I feel like America does very well.

At a normal race weekend

people are having a good time

but their focus is always on the racing.

In an America, it just feels like

flat out, good vibes.

Jumping onto Reddit, wow, a lot of likes.

Alex Albon scores a point for Williams.

And then there was a comment saying

is this going to go down

as one of the best races in the while?

Slowest car basically didn't pit P20 to P10.

It was a really special weekend.

We were struggling that year

especially at the start of the year.

We didn't have the pace.

I had a year away.

I felt like there was a part of me

that really wanted to prove myself

and so, having this opportunity

and having the race I had, it just felt great.

You know, it was like one of these things

where I felt like, you know I'm back

and I'm here to stay and I belong here.

It's a moment I'll never forget and hopefully, you know

we can continue having more and more races like that.

No Sir 3391 asking

can someone explain how the new FIA budget caps

affects smaller teams like Williams?

As a driver, the way it affects us

in my opinion, we have to be very accurate

in the way that we upgrade our car.

We don't have enough money to just

put things on and try it and say, okay, it doesn't work.

Let's go on to the next one.

We have maybe one upgrade or two upgrades

during the whole year that's gonna improve our car.

You'll see some top team bring in maybe nine or 10 updates

during the year plus, possibly more.

So it does feel like there's a bigger emphasis

on us to make sure that we get it right.

Next.

GP2, he asks

I'm curious what Alex will do in the future in F1.

Does he look at seats elsewhere?

Does he think the Williams is a safe option

and can stick with them for many, many seasons

meaning guaranteed job security?

My focus is on Williams.

Coming into any workplace, I imagine

but especially in my area you kind of have a stock.

Teams value you in a certain way.

What increases your own driver stock is

is really showing your potential in the car

and out of the cars.

People must, when you look at teams and say

that guy's fast.

He's fast around a lap, but there's much more to that.

How is his development skills?

How can he help the team?

Is he a team player to really make himself more valuable

than just his lap time?

If we are in a position where we're able to score podiums

and get to a point where we can score wins

what an amazing relationship and story that would be.

I would love to be able to say that.

Explain like I'm five.

[Alex laughing]

Why is there a minimum weight requirement in Formula One?

Wouldn't teams be incentivized to lessen the weight

of their cars for faster speeds?

True, yes, they would.

The reason for weight limit is because of safety.

The thinner the car, the lighter the car

the more chance of us getting injured.

Formula One have a weight limit to protect the driver

but it's a complicated question

and a five year old should be able to understand my answer

if he asked that question.

Wikipedia, you can edit your own Wikipedia comments

can't ya?

On 22nd, August, 2021, Albon won his has maiden

DTM race at the Norgurgring

becoming the first Thai driver to win a DTM race.

Yes, 2021.

It was a a tough year.

On the sidelines, I wasn't in Formula One

and I was in DTM

which was basically a GT3 car

a souped up modern day Ferrari.

It was a tough year.

I really struggled to learn them cars

and it was so different to Formula One car.

I won my first race.

It was a great feeling.

It put me on the map back into Formula One.

Around that time

was the time I was also talking to Williams.

Albon and his family oen a number of pets

consisting of eight cats, a dog and a horse.

It's actually changed, it's actually got two more cats now

so I think we're operating my house at, hang on a minute.

Four

eight,

nine, 10.

Yeah, we've got 12 pets now.

So, this Wikipedia page needs to be updated.

The dog is still there.

The horse is still there and we

I think we might get another horse.

A lot of cat hair.

So if you're allergic to cats like my dad is

it's a disaster.

How do you pronounce that core, cora.

Quora.

Quora, is it Quora?

[Alex laughing]

Do you guys know?

Quora, Quora, Quora.

How good of a driver's Alex Albon?

Wow.

What a question.

He's okay.

He's not bad.

He's in F1, so.

Posted.

Do F1 teams get involved at the grassroots level

to identify and nurture talent?

Yes, they do.

And they're doing it more and more.

I remember when I was go-karting, when I was 11 years old

I got signed as a Red Bull driver.

I was maybe one of the youngest drivers to ever

be part of a junior Formula One team.

But nowadays you see it more and more.

It's really beneficial, especially if you're a young kid.

The parents sometimes don't actually know what to do

with their kid.

What team do they need to be with when they make the step

from go-karting to Formula four?

A lot of the teams get it right.

What happens to F1 cars when they crash in a race?

Mechanics get angry.

The first thing they do is they obviously

take all the parts that are damaged over

but they also scan the cars.

You know, when a pregnant lady has like this

the gel and they scan the body.

It's kind of like that

to check for micro tears in the monocoque and all.

They strip it to its bone

and make sure everything's okay.

It's normally very expensive, as well.

[Alex laughing]

Which we do get reminded about.

Hopping onto YouTube.

From Trinity Lester.

I'm so impressed with how he came back

from those bumps with Hamilton.

He's on fire lately.

Thank you very much.

Those bumps with Hamilton, minor, minor bumps along the way.

Character building bumps.

When I read comments a lot about, you know, Lewis and myself

or the crashes we had, I honestly don't really get it.

Crashes happen all the time and that wasn't the reason

for our tough time in 2020.

But I do feel like I've become a much stronger person

since then.

Character building and I feel like

I'm a stronger driver for it.

Next, now we're turning in to Instagram.

Camille asks, wow, I wonder what goes through their heads

when they crash?

It's mixed, actually.

During this crash, the first thing I think of is

I've let the team down.

I think especially when you're kind of sliding

and you're going towards the barriers

you are in this hope that you don't hit the wall

but of course, you know you're gonna hit the wall.

It's pretty safe.

And I wouldn't say I would want to crash every time.

I don't think about my safety or my life

when I'm about to hit a wall.

Posted.

This is my golf swing, which is not great.

Mick actually disagrees.

He says, nice swing.

Has it improved since you and Lily started dating?

How's her driving?

So if you don't know, Lily, my girlfriend

she's a pro golfer on the LPG tour.

I got into golf kind of the same time

we started to see each other

and she will try to teach me

and try to tell me everything I'm doing is wrong

but I'm just like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So now her coach has to teach me

and my swing has improved, that's for sure.

But her driving skills, genie's work.

[Alex laughing]

On to TikTok, now.

Henry Mackenzie comments

I totally forgot this even happened.

How'd you go from a coma to back on the racetrack

in just a few weeks?

So this was a comment in response to

me being in hospital in Wanza.

I had appendicitis.

I woke up with extreme pain

and basically I went to the hospital that morning.

I needed an operation and it turned into a bit of a mess

and so I had two weeks, I believe

to get ready for Singapore, which if you don't know

is one of the hardest tracks of the year.

My trainer and I, we locked ourself in a gym

pretty much for two weeks.

Made the flight to Singapore and then we had a crash.

It was one of them feelings, like, ugh, I can't believe it.

But, so proud of the work that my trainer and I did.

I kind of take the pride in that over the result itself.

ChatGBT, oye, yo yo.

What do you think are the most important qualities

that a successful racing driver should have?

I'm still trying to figure that out.

There's almost the basics

that they need to be good at.

The first thing is they need to have a good feel

a very good sense of their butt

and the way that the car moves.

The second thing is mentally strong

as I think any athlete has to be

especially in the world of Formula One

with so much attention to only 20 drivers.

It is a tough sport mentally.

The third thing is smart.

We're almost engineers, as well.

There's so much data, so much to know.

It's really important to give the right feedback to

to the engineers and to the factory

to know what to do with a car.

You've gotta be selfish in the right ways, you know.

It's a team sport

but at the same time, you have to fight for yourself.

You need that hunger, that self-driving

that dog in you.

I think there's a lot of different personalities

in Formula One who have been very successful.

Okay, that's it from me.

I'm Alex Albon and I'm signing off the internet.

[upbeat music]