Crying at Disneyland, Verstappen’s cat-sitting duties and finger puppets – Getting to know the real Alex Albon

With the 2024 season reaching its halfway mark, Alex Albon is the latest member of the grid to face our Getting to Know quickfire quiz like no other. From driving test tales to being both a racer and team boss for his own outfit, and the world champions who would be involved in his ultimate F1 band to the unusual gifts he has been given on his trips around the world, the Williams man shares all in the video player above and transcript below…

Can you describe yourself in three words?

Happy, quiet and boring!

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What made you fall in love with F1?

I would say my most clear example would be doing my ARKS (Association of Racing Kart Schools) test, which is basically your racing licence. I did it at Silverstone and I remember Felipe Massa was with Sauber at the time, with the Petronas Red Bull car, and just hearing that V10 screaming… Whilst I was on the track karting, I could hear the noise of the F1 car, and that was pretty special.

When and where did you first drive something?

I think I was five years old and I drove a go-kart around Disneyland Paris. That would be my first time. And I cried because I hated it!

But it’s gone a bit better since then?

I still cry!

How many times did it take you to pass your driving test?

Two. I failed the first time, parallel parking… Did you know this? That when you parallel park you have to look over your opposite shoulder, incase like a cyclist or someone is on your right side. I didn’t know that. I got one major and game over!

Who’s your best friend inside the paddock?

I would say my performance trainer, Patrick [Harding]. Well, he’s the one I see the most!

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And outside the paddock?

Outside the paddock would be… You guys don’t know these people! I would say my girlfriend’s my best friend.

If you had to pick another F1 driver to look after your pets, who would it be and why?

[Thinking]… Who’s responsible…

How many cats and dogs do you have now?

I have 12 cats, a dog and two horses, so they’ve got to know their stuff. I don’t think any driver on the grid knows enough of that… I feel like… You know, weirdly, Max [Verstappen] has a few cats, so he knows his cat world a bit. He speaks fondly about his cats. If you speak about cats to him, he enjoys it, so I think he’d be a responsible pet owner.

One to follow up on with him, then…

Yeah!

Who would be part of your all-time F1 dream team? So that’s two drivers and a team boss... Oscar Piastri chose himself last time…

Yes… I would actually be the team boss and I would also be the driver. I’d negotiate my own salary.

Like football-style, player/manager…

Player/manager, but I’m doing both, so I’m in the press conference for team principals and I’m doing the press conference for drivers.

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You can really control the narrative there…

And I can charge as much as I want to myself! Then my team mate would be… Well now I’m in my own team, I don’t want a team mate too good! It’d be Ricky Bobby!

If you could form an F1 band, who would be involved and what would it be called? Charles Leclerc and his keyboard have come up a few times…

Yeah, that’s fair. Is Lewis [Hamilton] a singer? I feel like there’s always this mystery about Lewis, is he in songs and…

That was also a late shout from Oscar…

I’ve seen Liam Lawson now is starting his own little thing. We’ll get Seb [Vettel] on the drums, because I think he’s a bit of a drum man. We’ll be called The F1 Sensations.

Straight to the point…

Straight to the point. You’ve got to know what you’re getting yourself into!

What’s your ultimate meal? That’s a starter, main, dessert and drink…

Oh wow. Starter would be just simple tomato mozzarella. Main would be phat kaphrao, a Thai dish, it’s like home comfort food. Then dessert would be tiramisu. The drink… Thai milk tea… Good stuff! Totally unhealthy but good stuff.

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What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

When I first got into F1, [then Toro Rosso team boss] Franz Tost told me not to give a ****. It’s stuck with me. I think it’s something which… When you’re in the spotlight in F1, it’s easy to get consumed by the narratives around [you] and the noise. But do your own thing and don’t give a ****!

And what’s the worst advice you’ve ever received?

The worst advice… Wow. I don’t know! I’ve never had someone tell me something and think to myself, ‘That’s the worst advice I’ve ever heard’.

What’s the strangest gift you’ve ever been given by a fan?

I’m trying to think… What’s in my house that I’ve taken back with me…

Have you got a room full of these?

Yes, I do keep all the things around me. I live in a small apartment in Monaco, though, so there’s not a huge amount of space! I had like finger puppets of my pets, but that’s cute, that’s a nice gift. I have been given a voodoo doll of myself, so maybe that’s it…

Oh…

Yeah, maybe it’s that!

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Which other job do you wish you could try for a day?

It’s an obvious answer but an astronaut. That’d be a nice one.

That matches Oscar, so you’ve just got to fit in a trip to the moon…

Does it? Now I feel… I don’t want to be in a space shuttle with Oscar, so I’ll change mine. I’ll be a zookeeper, like in a sanctuary.

It works quite well with the pets…

Yeah, it’ll be nice.

What’s your proudest moment in F1 so far?

My proudest moment would be making it to F1!

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the sport?

I think nowadays there are so many drivers with a lot of talent. I can only speak for myself on this, but I think what really got me to F1 was being able to communicate. People think about racing as delivering fast lap times, but getting on with people, key people, having that maturity and general knowledge… You know, actually going to school, and this kind of thing. It’s funny but there are a lot of drivers who nowadays drop school at such an early age. That separated me a little bit apart from other people and I felt like that gave me an edge to other people. I mean, likewise, if you’re good enough, you’ll get to F1 anyway, but that was something that I felt like got me a chance and got me a second chance as well.

Where do you want to be in five years’ time?

In five years’ time… I still want to be in F1, I think I’ve still got the age on my side, and I’d want to be a world champion by then.

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That’s a theme so far and a pretty good goal…

Yeah… Is there anything like… Okay, that’s another dream. I would like to get my [golf] handicap to like a six in five years, and I’m nowhere near a six at the minute!

So we’ll come back in five years’ time and see where you are!

Yeah, please!