Helmut Marko has detailed how Lewis Hamilton influenced the career of one Red Bull athlete.
Lewis Hamilton ‘put a brake on’ Alex Albon’s F1 future, according to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, after the pair clashed in the closing stages of the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and again at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, with the Thai-British driver losing out on both occasions.
The first meeting between the two took place in 2019 at Interlagos. Hamilton went past Pierre Gasly before attempting a move at turn 10 after a late safety car pit stop dropped him to P4. Albon collided with the Mercedes driver, throwing him into the gravel and out of contention. His teammate Max Verstappen won the race later that day.
Albon’s subsequent interaction with Hamilton in Austria was much more frustrating. He was prepared for a maiden race win with fresher tyres and only the two Mercedes drivers ahead of him after a late safety car, but the duo collided at turn three, sending Albon into the gravel once more.
Marko told The Red Bulletin, “Alex had a lot of accidents in the lower categories, so we parted ways.” We signed him again after that stormy period, and he hadn’t lost any of his pace. Lewis did not ruin his career, but he did put a halt to it.In 2019, he was second when Hamilton ran him off the track in Brazil. Alex tried to pass Hamilton on the outside in the Red Bull Ring the next year, but he threw him into the gravel.
“He would have won that race, but he came up short.” That took him a long time to recover from. Alex is a quick driver, but I’m not sure if he’s too friendly. He appears to be similar to Coulthard in that everyone likes him, but he wasn’t all that tough in the end.”
Albon has subsequently renewed his career at Williams after taking a year off after Red Bull decided to replace him with Sergio Perez for the 2021 season. During his two campaigns for the Grove-based team, the 27-year-old has established himself as a solid team leader.
After outperforming teammate Logan Sargeant in every category and accounting for all but one of Williams’ 28-point haul in 2023, the former Red Bull driver is garnering interest from some of the sport’s elite teams as the driver market prepares for a shake-up this summer.
