| Alexander Albon | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Driver Details | ||
| Nationality |  Thai
| |
| P.o.B. | London, England, United Kingdom | |
| D.o.B. | 23 March 1996 | |
| Best Finish | 3rd (2018) | |
| Formula 2 Career | ||
| Total Entries | 44 (44 Starts) | |
| No(s). | 8; 5 | |
| Wins | Points | Poles |
| 4 | 298 | 3 |
| Fastest Laps | 1 | |
| Podiums | 10 | |
| Début |  2017 Bahrain Feature Race
| |
| Last Race |  2018 Yas Marina Sprint Race
| |
| First Win |  2018 Baku Feature Race
| |
| Last Win |  2018 Sochi Feature Race
| |
| Teams |  ART Grand Prix; DAMS
| |
Alexander Albon Ansusinha, (อเล็กซานเดอร์ อัลบอน อังศุสิงห์ in Thai; born 23 March 1996 in London, England, United Kingdom), is an Anglo-Thai racing driver, whom competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship between 2017 and 2018.[1] A former member of the infamous Red Bull Junior Team, Albon competed in two seasons of F2, having previously finished runner-up to Charles Leclerc in the GP3 Series, before taking a seat in Formula One with his former backers Red Bull.[2]
Albon made his F2 debut at the start of the inaugural season in 2017, with ART Grand Prix promoting him from their GP3 team.[3] A reasonable rookie campaign saw Albon claim one pole position and two podium finishes en-route to tenth in the Championship.[4]
After initially missing out on a seat for 2018, Albon signed a last minute deal with DAMS on a race-by-race basis.[1] A strong start to the season saw Albon duly sign a full season contract with the French squad, as the Thai racer claimed four victories en-route to third in the Championship.[5]
At the end of 2018, Albon was surprisingly signed by the Toro Rosso F1 Team for the 2019 season, despite their owners, Red Bull, having dropped the Thai driver from their young driver programme in 2015.[6]
Background[]
Albon, the son of Nigel Albon an ex-race in the British Touring Car Championship, began his karting career at the age of eight, winning his local Championship in the Cadet class. The following seasons would see Albon compete in higher capacity classes at a national level, before ultimately finishing as runner up in the CIK-FIA World Championship in 2011. That latter triumph earned Albon a role in the Red Bull Junior Team for 2012, with the Anglo-Thai racer moving into single seaters for the year.[7]
Red Bull Racer[]
Unfortunately for Albon his first venture into single seaters would not go well, with the Anglo-Thai racer failing to score at all during his first campaign in Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup. Indeed, it took Albon a further three seasons in the series before he could secure a decent end-of-season result, by which staged Red Bull had withdrawn their funding. Regardless, Albon would move in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship for 2015, with a number of his own personal sponsors.
A semi-successful season in F3 saw Albon end the season as one of the best rookies of the season, prompting ART Grand Prix to offer him a seat in the GP3 Series for 2016. It was in GP3 that Albon's talent finally had a chance to shine, with the now Thai registered racer going toe-to-toe with the highly rated Charles Leclerc for the title throughout the season.[2] Ultimately, however, Albon would end the 2016 season as runner up to the Monegasque racer, although both found themselves in Formula Two for 2017.[2]
Formula Two History[]
Having signed him up for the GP3 Series, it was ART Grand Prix whom would give Albon a shot in the inaugural FIA Formula Two Championship, partnering him with McLaren's Nobuharu Matsushita.[3] A successful debut would follow, with Albon out performing teammate Matsushita across the two races in Bahrain, beginning a run of six straight point scoring finishes for the Thai racer.[8] However, a mountain bike accident prior to the 2017 Baku Feature Race would put Albon out of immediate action, with the Thai racer temporarily replaced by Sergey Sirotkin.[9]
ART Attack[]
Albon returned for the Red Bull Ring round, although after completing practice in immense pain it was doubtful as to whether the Thai racer would compete.[10] Yet, there would be no stopping Albon, who not only scored points, but went on to claim a maiden podium in the Sprint Race, catapulting him back ahead of Matsushita in the Championship table.[11] Unfortunately for Albon his early momentum would fade after that, with the Thai racer enduring a pointless weekend two weeks later at Silverstone.[12]
Albon's season rather petered out after that, in spite of a return to the points at the Hungaroring.[13] Indeed, between that and the season ending races in Yas Marina, Albon would only score a single point in six races. Yet, the Thai racer would at least end the season on the podium, rounding out the season with second place and fastest lap at the 2017 Yas Marina Sprint Race.[4]
DAMS Determination[]
For 2018 Albon made the switch to ART's arch rivals DAMS for the former were looking to promote another pair of GP3 Series proteges for the second F2 season.[1] Initially signing a race-by-race contract with DAMS, Albon quickly established himself as a title contender, out-performing new teammate Nicholas Latifi during the early rounds.[14] Indeed a maiden victory would come at the 2018 Baku Feature Race, before Albon secured a full season contract with DAMS during the Monaco weekend in late May.[15]
Post Formula Two Career[]
In spite of the fact that Albon would race in Formula Two during 2018, the Thai racer would test with DAMS' sister squad e.Dams in the FIA Formula E Championship.[16] After a successful test, in which Albon out performed fellow e.Dams tester Mitsunori Takaboshi, Albon was in contention for a future FE role, particularly after it was revealed that Nicolas Prost would leave the team at the end of the 2017/18 season. The Thai racer duly signed a deal to join the series with the e.Dams squad, only to pull-out of the seat at the last minute after an opportunity to drive in Formula One.[6]
Full Formula Two Record[]
Shown below are a series of tables outlining Alexander Albon's career in Formula Two in statistical form.
Formula Two Entries[]
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for Alexander Albon during their F2 career:
| Alexander Albon's Overall Formula Two Record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Entrant | No. | Car | Pos. | Pts. |
| 2017 | ART Grand Prix[3]
|
8 | Dallara GP2/11 | 10th | 86 |
| 2018 | DAMS[1]
|
5 | Dallara F2 2018 | 3rd | 212 |
Career Results[]
Below is a table showing Alexander Albon's full Formula Two record.
| FIA Formula Two Championship Record | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Rounds | Pos. | Pts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | |||
| 2017 | 
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10th | 86 | |||||||||||||
| F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | |||||
| 6th | 7th | 5th | 8th | 4th | 6th | 5th | 2nd | 18th | 10th | 8th | 7th | 12th | 18th | 14th | 8th | 12th | 9th | 7th | 2nd | |||||||
| 2018 |
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3rd | 212 | ||||||||||||
| F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | F | S | |||
| 4th | 13th | 1st | 13th | 5th | 2nd | Ret | Ret | Ret | 7th | 5th | 5th | 1st | 7th | 5th | 1st | 5th | 3rd | 3rd | Ret | 1st | 3rd | 14th | 8th | |||
References[]
Videos and Images:
- Nckfy, 'File:AlexAlbonMarrakech2017.jpg', commons.wikimedia.org, (WikiMedia Commons, 22/01/2018), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AlexAlbonMarrakech2017.jpg, (Accessed 28/06/2018)
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Jack Benyon, 'F2 form man Albon confirmed for full season with DAMS', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 12/05/2018), https://www.motorsport.com/fia-f2/news/albon-dams-full-season-1036496/?s=1, (Accessed 14/06/2018)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Peter Allen, 'Leclerc is GP3 champion despite collision as De Vries wins', formulascout.com, (Formula Scout, 26/11/2016), http://www.formulascout.com/leclerc-is-gp3-champion-despite-collision-as-de-vries-wins/35825, (Accessed 28/06/2018)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Valentin Khorounzhiy, 'GP3 runner-up Albon confirmed for GP2 2017 promotion', motorsport.com, (Motorsport Network, 22/02/2017), https://www.motorsport.com/fia-f2/news/gp3-runner-up-albon-confirmed-for-gp2-2017-promotion-875840/, (Accessed 28/06/2018)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedYas17SR - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedYas18SR - ↑ 6.0 6.1 Andrew Benson, 'Alexander Albon: Toro Rosso deal for 2019 for British-born Thai driver', bbc.co.uk/sport, (British Broadcasting Company, 26/11/2018), https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/46350378, (Accessed 26/11/2018)
- ↑ 'Meet Alex Albon, a new addition to the Red Bull Junior Team for 2012.', redbull.com, (Red Bull Gmbh, 31/03/2012), https://www.redbull.com/int-en/introducing-alex-albon, (Accessed 28/06/2018)
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedMon17SR - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedSS17A - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedRBR17FR - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedRBR17SR - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedSS17SR - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedHun17SR - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedAA18A1 - ↑ 'ALBON VICTORIOUS IN THRILLING BAKU FEATURE RACE', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 28/04/2018), http://www.fiaformula2.com/News-Room/News/2018/04_April/Albon-victorious-in-thrilling-Baku-feature-race/, (Accessed 16/06/2018)
- ↑ Sam Smith, 'Albon to Test for Renault e.dams', e-racing365.com, (John Dagys Media LLC, 19/12/2017), http://e-racing365.com/formula-e/albon-to-test-for-renault-e-dams/, (Accessed 19/12/2017)