Alex Albon said that in spite of competing against each other, the friendship between his contemporary F1 stars remains strong.
Albon returned to F1 in 2021 after spending a year as Red Bull’s test and development driver. He joined Williams, where he replaced the outgoing George Russell.
He is 26-years old and grew up competing against several F1 stars of today. He shares a particularly close friendship with the likes of Lando Norris and Russell.
Off-track, we’ve seen them hang out and spend time with each other very often. In the recent episode of ‘Beyond the Grid‘ podcast, the Williams driver spoke about whether their friendship is affected because of the on-track rivalry.
Albon spoke about how the current F1 stars met each other during their karting days. Since then, they’ve spent most of their time together. As a result, they became close and share a strong bond.
“We’ve been racing against each other since the age of 12”, Albon said. “All the way through to now. So for most of us, that’s 12/13 years of racing together. I see them more than I see my family right now. It would be a tough 12 years if you hated them and saw them everyday.”
Rivalry is different today than it was back in the day, says Alex Albon
Albon went on to talk about how the rivalry between them has evolved over the years. Back during their karting days, the karts they competed in were fairly similar. As a result, many of them could win races and always go up against one another.
Fast forward to 2022 and they’re all in different Formula 1 teams. In this sport, the cars are radically different from that of their rivals, and some lack performance. This, Albon feels has changed the way they compete against each other.
“The rivalry has become different,” the former Red Bull driver said. “For me at least. I’m in a Williams and Charles Leclerc is in a Ferrari. I would say it’s different now to when Max and Charles were kids.”
“In karting, anyone can win. There is difference in equipment, but it’s still pretty similar. When you go towards F1, there is a difference. You’re all competitive but there’s a difference in the machinery.”
Albon has had a decent return to F1 so far. He’s driving a Williams that is massively lacking pace compared to other cars, but he still managed a P20 to P10 drive in Melbourne three weeks ago.
