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Topics: Formula 1, Motorsport, Spotlight
Tom Jenkins
Williams F1 driver Alex Albon has praised the prospect of a Thai Grand Prix and revealed his plans for the event in an exclusive interview with SPORTBible.
Despite being born and raised in England, Albon has raced under the Thai flag for the entirety of his F1 career due to holding dual nationality.
Albon has had a stellar start to his 6th season in the sport, sitting in eighth in the driver standings after his fifth-place finish at the Miami Grand Prix.
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The 29-year-old finished ahead of both Ferraris in Miami, and has scored more points than Lewis Hamilton this campaign when excluding sprint races.
Despite the impressive results, Albon has remained realistic about his chances of battling the Scuderia heading into the remainder of the season.
“Honestly, I think it might be a one-off," he told SPORTbible when asked about Williams' Miami performance.
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"I don't want to sound too pessimistic about it, they were struggling and we were on form.
“The way upgrades work in Formula 1 we were kind of at a perfect point where they hadn’t brought any."
While staying optimistic about Williams' 2025 prospects, Albon insisted he expects the pecking order to mirror a more familiar pattern as we head into the European leg of the season.
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“As we get deeper into the season there is going to be far more upgrades brought onto other cars," he continued.
"We have our own upgrade plan but unless their upgrades are going to make them slower, I think we will struggle to keep up," Albon admitted.
With Williams hoping to continue their current trajectory, Albon looks to have a bright future. However, his team's performance isn't the only thing bringing anticipation, with the prospect of a home Grand Prix in Thailand looking increasingly inevitable.
While official confirmation is yet to come, it was revealed in March that F1 was holding talks to host a race in the country's capital, Bangkok, by the 2028 season.
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Albon himself held talks with Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra to discuss the current designs and plans for the race before March's Japan Grand Prix.
Speaking as though there were no doubts over the potential Grand Prix, Albon revealed the importance of bringing the pinnacle of motorsport to more areas of the world.
“I think it’s [Thai Grand Prix] going to be a great addition to Formula 1, I think South East Asia hasn’t seen much of F1," Albon explained.
"We have a race in Japan [Suzuka], we were going to have one in Vietnam, but to put Thailand on the stage is great."
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The Williams star also claimed the Grand Prix would be the biggest sporting event in Thailand, and emphasised the country stands in very good stead to be a host nation for F1.
“I think everyone knows about Thailand, it’s very tourist-friendly and attracts a lot of people, but I think the Thai Grand Prix is going to be the biggest sports event that they will have in Thailand which will be huge," he added.
Albon also revealed that he plans to use the race weekend to create change in his home country, with opportunities in motorsport few and far between for the majority living in Thailand.
He continued: “Personally speaking for me it will be a big thing, especially just trying to improve the awareness and opportunities for Thai people in motorsport.”
The Thai Grand Prix would make Albon the 14th driver on the grid to have an official home race, despite Silverstone and Singapore offering huge local support for the former Red Bull man.