Alex Albon Exclusive: "The game has changed"

0:02Alex Albon:This is a Global Player original podcast.

0:08The game's changed.

0:12And you have to relearn everything you've ever learned. As drivers, we are very united because we're all purists at heart. Can you be friends off track who've known each other for so long and then be rivals? on track. We just want to race.

0:36Hi, this is Alex Albon and welcome to Up To Speed.

0:51Well, hello folks and welcome to a very sunny but a really cold Silverstone. It's a beautiful day. Formula One cars, believe it or not, on track. And we haven't been able to say that for a few weeks because we had this month-long break in the middle of the season. But they've been on track yesterday, been on track today, testing out here. We've seen the Williams, seen the Haas, seen the Red Bull flying past us. And a little bit earlier today, on these very seats, had the pleasure of sitting down with Alex Albon. Obviously a mega season in 2025, and Williams and the whole team hoping to start 2026 in a similar vein.

1:29It hasn't quite worked out to be the start of the season that they were hoping for. But with a month off to bring themselves back together, compute what they've learned over the opening races and then get back to racing ways in Miami. A really important few weeks for him and for the team. It was a great conversation. Wonderful to sit down with him just to learn about the differences that 2026 have presented for him as a driver, for the team as a whole, for the sport. and of course with the regulation changes recently announced how that's going to change things moving forward we talked about it all about his hopes and objectives for this season most importantly of all what goes on in the f1 drivers group chat um so without further ado mr alex albon

2:15welcome to up to speed alex thank you very much thank you for having me well thank you for having us here at silverstone yeah it's lovely it was not like this yesterday we were testing last year's car and it was 30 40 mile an hour gusts so you came out the right day what do you learn from testing last year's car when there's been such a massive tech reg change for this year we kind of a little bit reverse engineer something so there's some things on this year's car for example that we don't like that we don't have at all or as much on last year's car and then you can kind of backtrack that and go okay well why and test some things and see if we can almost make the car feel more like this year's car so we know if that's the carrot.

3:04Interesting. So we've been doing a little bit of that also just for us to shake off the dust. I mean it sounds it's the only sport in the world where we don't actually do our sport that much. So three weeks means a lot. Because you're supposed to be racing and now there is no racing. Has that break come at a good time? Good time for us, good time for Williams just because I think we've been on the back foot for playing catch-up really you know the late car was late and he's offering us a good opportunity to really sit down and think about the development plan for this year's car. How difficult has the start of the season been because last year was so positive and obviously you always want to pick up where you left off.

3:45It's always going to be difficult with a massive regulation changed but you still have your hopes, you still have the expectations. We do, we did. I think in many ways it was a bit of a, it was frustration for all of us really. I think if you think about how every year it feels like things are going forward and then as we got into this year it was looking positive and then just kind of the last few months before we got going it just seemed to have, things got delayed and one thing led to another and suddenly we're really on the back foot. And, you know, it's not where I believe we belong, but at the same time, it's in many ways exposed some areas that we have been weak as a business.

4:30And so we need to figure out, you know, why this regulation change put us so far on the back foot. I think having from 2022 to 2025, the cars were changing, obviously. the cars were upgrading and getting better but the strain on the team when you do a regulation set is completely different and as I said just exposed some bottlenecks in the factory. Was missing the shakedown the big thing because so many people kind of pass it off and just say it's just a shakedown. It all matters it all matters valuable track time especially with the lack of testing obviously for us as well in fp1 fp2 fp3 now so much of that time is spent on deployment and working on um the software basically of the car um you can't afford that many rake runs aero testing runs we do all these kind of things in in shakedown we couldn't really do much of it so we still do it now and i think that's just a a bit of a um what do you call that residue of of missing testing and you have to relearn everything you've ever learned for this year the driving is is so so different were you fully prepared for that had the sim sessions in preparation for this year had they fully prepared you or was it only when you got on track and got in the car that you realized oh my god this is this is a whole different thing um we started really early on on starting to learn the habits of what we need to do to drive honestly it changes i mean it's changing massively even from last race to this race so it's amazing in the simulator we in fact we we try to leave the sim days to as late as possible now just because it gives us the latest iteration of what oh wow that's going to do on the track that much it changes every day pretty much and so um you know i did a sim day two days ago and I'll do another one tomorrow.

6:32And I know for a fact that my Miami prep, it will be different. So you're always changing. It's a moving goalpost. The best teams are the ones that can adapt. And of course, if you're the ones designing the engine, then it helps a little bit more as well. That's a really valid point because I know the customer teams have stated, you know, it's been difficult to start the year where you're not the brain trust that's coming up. with that how much more difficult is it you know when you don't have all of that information at your beck and call truthfully it's not crazy it's not this it's huge difference it's more that um our car is so much different to a mercedes you know we can we can't do corners flat um where they may be able to um and there's just different driving styles even between drivers uh for example George to me or Kimi to me so um that bit is challenging and Mercedes actually are trying the best they can it's just that it is different so um every week every every race that goes past we we get better at it um understanding what our limitations might be compared to um a Mercedes powered or Mercedes team um car and uh yeah it's it is very challenging I'll say that You talk about drivers wanting different things from the car.

7:58How similar are you and Carlos in terms of what you need, what you want out of a car?

8:06It's very clear to us where we want the car to go towards in terms of development. We speak the same language in many ways. I think the good thing for me was when Carlos drove the car for the first time in Abu Dhabi. He was like, yeah, like immediately this makes sense. and it wasn't like the car felt strange to him. So that helps a lot. If you think about the fine, fine details, slightly different, but we're at a point where even if one of us goes, for example, through a setup direction philosophy on a Friday, if they need to convert or go back on a Saturday and just copy of the car's setup, it's there.

8:49You know, we're very close. On our podcast, DC always says that the first person you have to beat is your teammate, and that's your sole consideration and your sole goal. And I always try and argue that when a team is trying to build itself back to the front, you can't have that mindset because you have to work together to pull the team up. Which is closer to reality at Williams? It's a valid point. And I would say maybe the latter is more true for us. Definitely not the case in most places. But your objectives are different. You're trying to build back to the front. Exactly. And the further back down the grid, kind of think of it this way.

9:33We don't want to be fighting between us between P17 and P18 or P16 and P17. That's not enjoyable for anyone. We need to be fighting up at the front end. And we will only do that if we experiment, if we try things that aren't you know kind of things that I think top teams might not even think about doing because there's no it's not that carrot for them to to chase so it is it is different I think um the other side of it is just that both of us are experienced we don't have to necessarily prove too hard to the team, you know, we're not rookies anymore. And so we've got the experience where, of course, we still want to visit each other, but the egos aren't there to, you know, to fight for these kind of positions.

10:26Does that longevity in the sport, does that give you a freedom that you're not worried about your seat or you're not worried about your future, that you are relatively locked in, you've got the confidence that you know you belong. And so you can afford to just buckle down and focus on the job the team want you to do the mindset of it is different for sure yeah i would say that goes back to kind of your rookie days or or even when i was 10 years old and you're kind of every year you don't know if you're going to race the next year suddenly you get a longer term contract and it's like okay well it's it's kind of you're playing the team game now and it's not being the the pure selfish sense of surviving um and so so yeah there There is a slight switch, but at the same time, I don't know, you are pushing the team relentlessly because you want to see more from them, basically.

11:19Yeah. You talk about being 10 years old. Yes. We have a really unique situation in Formula 1 at the moment where so many of you grew up together, you and George and Lando and Charles, and you were all carting together and came up through the ranks. And it hasn't been like that for a long, long time. I think back to the 90s and guys like you know Damon Hill and Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle and Johnny Herbert and they were all That same group Can you be friends off track who've known each other for so long and then be rivals on track? Does it make it easier or harder? It's interesting because the the older guys I think would say no and almost look at it like how are you guys friends?

11:53But I don't know. I don't know. I'm for example us last night George came to my house and we had dinner Just it feels very normal um yeah i think the i mean george and i we're not fighting on track but yet the most yet but for the most part no i i i think it's it's lovely really in many ways we i see the other drivers more than i see my fiance more than i see my family and so we travel together most of the time we train together a lot of the time um helmets are on clearly we're not we're not friends anymore in that sense but um yeah i don't know it's it's a nice thing i feel like the energy in the paddock is it's a nice thing yeah yeah is there a group chat between you guys who've known each other for a long long like a separate one to the main chat there's loads of different there's there's paddle group chats there's golf group chats there's uh monaco specific group chats there's of course there is travel group chats there's There's...

12:57Yeah. Yes. Gaming group chats. Do you guys give Lando a bit more jip now he's world champion in the group chats? He's too big for us now.

13:08Alex Albon:Does he not reply to the group chats anymore? No, he's still the same. He's still the same. I was like, my God, I'm going to create something terrible here. No. I'm very happy for him, of course. Are you? Yeah. I love that. Generally, generally. I think he did an amazing season last season I felt like the way that he kind of struggled a bit at the beginning of the season relative to how he normally starts the season or how he normally goes and then really got into the swing of things it was I feel like he proved a lot of people wrong and you made the point that it's going to be tough to fight with George this year it looks like he's got a killer car within those groups, within that friend group is there a feeling of warmth towards George of oh my god this could be his year.

13:56Yeah, for sure. How do you, it's amazing because you're such competitive beings and as you said, there's a selfishness that exists inside a racing driver. And yet to still have that joy for Lando and I imagine over dinner last night that happiness tinged with you bastard for George that he might have his chance this year. Then you think of it like when we first joined Formula 1, He was in Williams and I was at Red Bull. Lando was at McLaren. So it was his turn kind of rolls, switch a little bit. And he's been working very, I think he's one of the most driven drivers I think I've ever met in terms, I don't think people realize just how much work he puts in behind the scenes.

14:43He's a perfectionist. And when he wants something, he'll get it. And I respect that a lot about George. I think that it's been a long time coming for him and now finally he's kind of got that opportunity which is amazing Obviously his teammates now feels like he stepped up his game for the most part and Yeah, it's a I'm kind of watching it from afar From a couple laps down, but yeah, I remember reporting on you from back in in karting Yeah, yeah, yeah When you're a Red Bull back driver good magazine. I wrote for was owned by Keith Sutton and you were sponsored by Sutton's. So we kind of had to, but also, but it was brilliant

15:23Alex Albon:because it was like, there's this - You're forced to report about me. It was the only carting reporting we did was you because you were Sutton's sponsor. Good, as you should. And it was great, but it allowed me to kind of follow your career from a really, really young age all the way through. People will always ask you, you know, about the start and being a rookie, about Red Bull, about all the different phases through. How much have they aided you to be the driver that you are now? All of that experience, to have the highs, the lows, to come back, to fight through? Yeah. First of all, Red Bull picked me up when I was turning 12 years old.

15:59So I was super early. When I became a Red Bull junior driver, they helped me all the way through my car scene career. And then things get a lot more serious once you go into single seater. so that's when a kind of helmet would would call me in karting but it would just be kind of just casual chats and he would want to know if you want if if you want to race it would be like we want more of that and uh and that kind of thing and then once it once it gets to single seaters they really take take um more i guess i guess it it it's much more of a close family in that sense where they really bring you in and that's when you start going to the training centers but then the pressure builds and i imagine the phone calls from helmet stopped being ones you looked forward to and started being ones that yeah i wouldn't say yeah i mean i wouldn't say i looked forward to them when i was a kid but for the most part no it was a a more serious role i had a really bad year my first year at red bull and then immediately got drops kind of faced the the wrath of of the system and um but you'd been through that before yes well because you were a red bull kid in cards yeah and then you weren't and then they brought you back into the fold exactly so that first time any i think any any junior team would would drop me it was really a tough year for me so um there wasn't no like feelings of hard you know i've been i've been screwed here exactly i saw it coming um got back on my feet had a lot of support i mean god i had really amazing people behind me who got me back.

17:35I was part of the Lotus Junior Academy back then with Gwen, who is now in charge of the Mercedes Junior Team, and then moved across to Red Bull. It was basically, again, a really tough year in Formula 2, was racing race by race. Part of that, I do think it made me stronger, for sure, made me value things and make me work card for things. It was never fed to me in many ways. I'm sure it's made me a better driver to who I am today. Let's look at this year if we can because I know we're not unlimited with time. We are sitting here primarily because we have this break in the season. It's a lovely day.

18:21Big regulation changes just announced in the last few days. Let's start with the cars for this year you said yourself you had to kind of relearn how to how to drive how different an experience has formula one been this year as a driver in the most simplest way you start at eight years old for the most part and all you get taught is drive as fast as you can and that brings the best lap time and so um at least for the first three races i can't comment about about what's going to happen now but in fact more often than not driving the quickest way is not actually the quickest way that's so strange and so there is an element of go slower to go faster and so i think for the call it the purist in in driving it is almost like you're you are it's not that clear what's the quickest thing and you can feel a little bit lost out there I think the whole communication between going faster has changed from last year to this year.

19:31Last year when I was in the simulator, it was all about going through all these different setup simulations that we had, optimising the ride heights, optimising the driving, focusing on whatever it may be. this year the conversation is 80 % 90 % about okay lifting close a little bit here this gear through this corner throttle profile through this corner when you're speaking to your engineer on the radio in between cool down laps it's very rarely about corners the carrot is deployment so understanding your battery percentage at certain parts of the track is very important as well um the game's changed and of course hearing me speak most probably sounds this isn't formula one but at the same time i do understand the best teams are adaptable the best drivers are adaptable and you do have to respect the sport in many ways and i think the long-term thing yes you know it's not what we like but at the same time i like the challenge that it's bringing in terms of you've got to adapt um to overcome it so um and that's the best drivers always do and the best drivers always do and that's that is still formula one so um there is a middle ground in there for sure and i think that's where we're going towards the the group chat during the first test did it go very very quiet i don't want to i don't speak too much about the group chat i can talk about uh the meetings around it but okay so you as drivers you you all talk to each other was there an element of holding back because you weren't sure that everybody was experiencing the same thing or did you as a group kind of realize very early on okay we're all we're all experiencing something very different here i think if you look at max's comments from when was he asked these questions in 2023 i think if you ask george 2023 2024 the ones that had simulators ready with the pus already under development um it was a long time coming yeah yeah um ollie said the drivers need to respect each other more after what happened to him in uh in suzuka is that a a feeling that is generally held?

21:59Yeah, it is. There's almost a buffer now between what was acceptable last year and what's acceptable this year. I think we like to race between millimeters and giving each other just enough space and playing with the rules of one car width, let's say, things like that. But at the moment, the closing speeds like you saw are so big, there has to be a bit of a buffer from the drivers and i think as drivers we understand that it's just a mutual respect between all of us that putting you know giving the last bit of space let's let's not do that yeah give an inch rather than exactly exactly um i don't we don't want it to be over placed by the faa i think as drivers we just want to respect each other first if it's still not going the way we want to and the inevitable driver still comes out in us, then maybe get it policed.

22:57But for now, let's see. Changes have been announced. Part of that, it was announced there was a consultation with the drivers. What does that look like? Do you get together beforehand and agree what line you're going to take as a group, as the GPDA? Do you all turn up with your own individual ideas? I think as drivers, first of all, we are very united because we're all purists at heart. I think what the FIA appreciate about our feedback is it's non-bias. Clearly, when you have four or five PU manufacturers in the sport, there is always going to be an agenda at hand and everyone's going to try to put the regulations into there.

23:44advantages let's say turkeys don't vote for christmas there we go yes and um and the drivers don't hold that just because you just want to race we just want to race so i really like the fact that the faa are bringing us into these conversations i wouldn't say that's been such a thing in the past maybe because it wasn't needed but for the most part um we give advice we tell than what we think's gimmicky or not pure. And they do take it on board. Of course, they explain to us the big picture of the sport and we get it. And so I think that also, the more that they bring us into it, the more that I feel like you won't get drivers angry.

24:29Because you were consulted? Because we're consulted. And we like to be brought in because I think for us, it gives us an opportunity to have a say. For example, the regulation changes that have happened in Miami, a lot of that has come from conversations with drivers and whatnot and so we're we're positive about the changes made that's good so you guys are happy with with what's happened you think it'll make the changes you want to see it goes in towards the right direction if it's a permanent uh fix likely not but it's going the right way um there's a couple of weeks now until we go racing in in miami uh i imagine a huge amount of work going on at the factory upgrades that would have been in the pipe works before all of these regulation change were even announced.

25:11How hopeful are you for a step forward? How hopefully do you remain for the remainder of the season, especially given that we've had this break now that's allowed everybody to just kind of compress a little bit or decompress a little bit and use those learnings from the first few? I'm excited. I think our car's gone on a training camp in the four or five weeks. lost a little bit of weight done well for itself we will see I think the biggest thing for us is it's all subjective in a way like F1 always is, we know our upgrade is going to, it should make us go faster but there is no doubt that everyone is bringing upgrades that's going to make them go faster and so how much is it you poke around, speak with the other drivers see what they think if they're willing to give you some information or not but for us at least I think this time has been spent really well I still think we're on the back foot but yeah I mean part of me is afraid the top teams always do well on regulation changes you give them a five week break I'm sure they're pretty good at making most of them five weeks so yeah Brilliant stuff Alex thank you so much for your time we really really appreciate it and wishing you continued success Thank you very much Thanks guys Thank you

26:37Well, we hope you agree. A lovely sit down with Alex, and we thank him very much for his time today here at Silverstone. Fascinating insight, I think, into the regulations for this year, how they've had to change as drivers, how the teams have had to change the way that they approach everything, and just the sheer amount that they're learning every single day and every single race. He's a guy I've been following since he was 10 years old. Lovely to get an insight into that 10-year-old kid and how much he's changed into the man that he is now. All of the learnings, the highs, the lows, everything that has kind of framed the driver and the personality of the man.

27:19Let us know what you thought, please, in the comments. You can contact us. You can follow us on the socials at UpToSpeedShow. New episodes landing every Monday and Thursday. next race of course is in Miami it's getting ever closer and we wish Alex and Williams the very best of luck thank you so much for following along and we will see you on the next one I'm going to go and get myself a hot drink it's cold

27:47Alex Albon:don't know if you saw me shivering

27:52Alex Albon:this has been a Global Player original production