Despite Coming Agonizingly Close to Heart Failure, Alex Albon Was Determined to Prove Himself After He Was Replaced By a Man Who Insulted Him

Nyck de Vries made headlines earlier this year after AlphaTauri unceremoniously sacked him in the middle of his first F1 season. While 2023 was the Dutchman’s first full year in the sport, he did compete in a race last season. The 28-year-old stepped in for Alex Albon in the Williams last year after the Thai driver suffered from appendicitis and came agonizingly close to suffering heart failure. And to everyone’s surprise, De Vries impressed in his very first race by finishing ninth at the 2022 Italian GP. On seeing De Vries, who once insulted him, Albon revealed on F1 TV’s Beyond The Limits Season 2 documentary how it motivated him to come back even stronger.

De Vries had once insulted the Thai driver and Lando Norris when the duo made it to F1 before him. The Dutchman was unhappy because he believed that he had matched both drivers at every step in F2 and still failed to make it to the pinnacle of motorsports.

De Vries had told Dutch newspaper Friesch Dagblad back in 2018, “I do not want to be arrogant at all, but Norris and Albon were in my eyes really no better than me. Norris won only one race. Albon won four and I won three“. The 28-year-old made these remarks shortly after it was confirmed that both Norris and Albon had secured seats for the 2019 season.

Alex Albon reveals he was “angry” when Nyck de Vries drove his car

In the F1 TV documentary, Alex Albon revealed how he felt insecure to see someone else drive his car. The 27-year-old stated that after he was fit again, he was determined to show that he still had what it took to compete at the highest level.

“When I woke up on the Sunday and I saw the results, I was quite driven by the fact that Nyck had a good race. I don’t want people to drive my car. I was kicking myself. I was angry at myself. I just wanted got back in my car, and show people what I can do,” revealed Albon.

While the Thai driver felt frustrated on the sidelines, Nyck de Vries celebrated his first points-scoring finish in F1. In just that one race, de Vries scored half of the points that Albon scored in 2022.

However, it is pertinent to note that Albon just did not suffer because of de Vries’ performance. In the same documentary, the 27-year-old also pointed out how he was close to suffering from heart failure.

Albon reveals he was close to suffering heart failure

In the same documentary, Alex Albon pointed out how things quickly went from bad to worse for him. He began by explaining how at first he thought he had immense pain in his stomach because of something he had eaten. Little did he realize that he was suffering from something much worse.

“Before I knew it, I was on the operating table. And it was a very relatively simple operation but it went horribly wrong. My lungs filled up with blood. It was quite a serious situation. At the time, I was a minute and a half from heart failure. I woke up very briefly. I can see everyone panicking and I fell back asleep. And people around me were obviously much more worried about me than I was of myself“, explained Albon.

After stating the same, Albon went on to explain how his suffering even continued when he returned to training. The Thai driver revealed that his biggest concerns were his lungs as he was coughing up a lot of blood.

However, despite all the pain he was suffering, Albon competed at the Singapore Grand Prix just two weeks after his surgery. He did so despite the fact that Singapore is one of the most demanding circuits on the F1 calendar. Because of his willingness to race despite his pains, Albon received immense praise from the F1 fraternity. While everything seemed to have worked well for him, he yet unfortunately managed to register only a DNF.