Alex Albon on his own "with my backpack" after severing Red Bull ties

Alex Albon

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Albon on his own "with my backpack" after severing Red Bull ties

Thai-British driver recently signed a new deal with Williams

Ian Parkes & Will Gray

Friday 26 August 2022 12:55

Alex Albon has revealed he is now "on my own with my backpack" after signing a new deal with Williams and severing his ties with Red Bull.

Former Red Bull driver Albon had to sit on the sidelines last year before the team negotiated a ‘loan’ deal for him to return to the grid with Williams this season after George Russell’s move to Mercedes was confirmed.

At the start of the summer break, Williams and Albon confirmed the signing of a multi-year extension to his contract.

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Explaining what it means in terms of his links with Red Bull, Albon explained: "It’s a conversation to have.

"I feel like now I am definitely a Williams driver going from next year onwards but of course, I will still stay close with Red Bull just because of what they have helped me with right from the very beginning of my career.

"I still have a close relationship with them but let’s say, going into next year, then that’s me on my own with my backpack."

Addressing the nature of the deal and how it quickly came to pass, Albon added: “It was pretty clear where it was going to go. It was quite a simple discussion actually.

“Already with [Williams CEO] Jost [Capito] and the board, we were talking about the future pretty early after the first few races and things were already going well.

“It’s also one of those things where you have really got to gel with the team and really feel comfortable with the team and that is something I felt straight away when I joined the team.

“I didn’t have to look too much elsewhere to feel like I wanted to continue working with Williams.”

Albon reveals story behind comical twitter post

Albon’s deal was announced at the start of the summer break, a day after Fernando Alonso revealed his departure from Alpine and reserve driver Oscar Piastri tweeted a denial in response to Alpine’s claim he had signed for them.

The Thai-British driver made his own deal known with a tongue-in-cheek message on his Twitter feed, mimicking the words Piastri used in his earlier tweet.

Albon explained: “I think we were having a barbecue at my parents’ house and I was catching up on all the gossip because I was in the simulator all day and I couldn’t believe, I mean, the whole thing.

“The Alonso thing shocked me, I was ‘what is going on?’ and my girlfriend and my sisters showed me Oscar’s tweet.

"I knew at that point, I’d had a chat with Jost already about announcing it, and we were like, ‘we should make a bit of fun about the situation.’”