Alex Albon, de Williams Racing, contesta las preguntas que usuarios reales de Instagram, TikTok y Facebook le han hecho. El piloto tailandés de F1 nos cuenta qué pasa cuando los autos de Fórmula 1 chocan, cuál es el peso mínimo para ser corredor del máximo circuito de automovilismo y más detalles de su apasionante carrera.
00:00Hey GQ, it's Alex Albon. Today I'm going undercover on the internet. It's actually me.
00:07So let's go through some Twitter questions, or tweets I guess it is. First one from Ali.
00:12Hey Alex Albon, how does it feel to be the second tallest F1 driver in history? Is that a real stat?
00:17I'm 6'2", which isn't that tall. Formula 1 drivers are all very short. It's actually a bad thing in Formula 1
00:23because it normally carries weight. Weight's not good in F1 and it makes me very lanky.
00:27Replied. Next tweet from Rich.
00:30Not watching F1 2023 season for the racing, watching to see what Alex Albon does with his hair.
00:35When I'm traveling around the world, I've been looking at hairdressers. When can I bleach it?
00:40When do I need to do just a tone? There's a whole logistical side to keeping my hair blondie white.
00:46So when I first dyed my hair, I scored points, which was a big deal for us last year.
00:51And it felt like a bit of a tradition and every single time I dyed my hair, I had a good result.
00:56It's not a great superstition to have because it's actually, it's not as simple as wearing a bracelet or something.
01:02It actually takes a bit of effort.
01:04Next question from Bart Crosley.
01:06Thoughts on Vegas. It's going to be interesting, Vegas. I feel like it's not your normal Formula 1 race.
01:12It's clearly going to be a big show, which I feel like America does very well.
01:17At a normal race weekend, people are having a good time, but their focus is always on the racing.
01:21In America, it just feels like fat out, good vibes.
01:26Jumping onto Reddit. Wow. A lot of likes. Alex Albon scores a point for Williams.
01:31And then there was a comment saying, is this going to go down as one of the best races in a while?
01:35Slowest car, basically didn't pit P20 to P10.
01:37It was a really special weekend.
01:39We were struggling that year, especially at the start of the year. We didn't have the pace.
01:43I had a year away. I felt like there was a part of me that really wanted to prove myself.
01:46And so having this opportunity and having the race I had, it just felt great.
01:51It was like one of these things where I felt like I'm back and I'm here to stay and I belong here.
01:56It's a moment I'll never forget. And hopefully we can continue having more and more races like that.
02:02Nosa3391 asking, can someone explain how the new FIA budget caps affects smaller teams like Williams?
02:08As a driver, the way it affects us, in my opinion, we have to be very accurate in the way that we upgrade our car.
02:14We don't have enough money to just put things on and try it and say, okay, it doesn't work. Let's go on to the next one.
02:20We have maybe one upgrade or two upgrades during the whole year that's going to improve our car.
02:24You'll see some top teams bring maybe nine or ten updates during the year, possibly more.
02:29So it does feel like there's a bigger emphasis on us to make sure that we get it right.
02:34Next.
02:35GP2, he asks, I'm curious what Alex will do in the future in F1. Does he look at seats elsewhere?
02:40Does he think that Williams is a safe option and can stick with them for many, many seasons, meaning guaranteed job security?
02:45My focus is on Williams. Coming into any workplace, I imagine, but especially in my area, you kind of have a stock.
02:53Teams value you in a certain way. What increases your own driver stock is really showing your potential in the car and out the car.
02:59People most probably look at teams and say, that guy's fast. He's fast around a lap, but there's much more to that.
03:04How is his development skills? How can he help the team? Is he a team player to really make himself more valuable than just his lap time?
03:11If we are in a position where we're able to score podiums and get to a point where we can score wins, what an amazing relationship and story that would be.
03:17I would love to be able to say that.
03:18Explain like I'm five.
03:20Why is there a minimum weight requirement in Formula One?
03:22Wouldn't teams be incentivized to lessen the weight of their cars for faster speeds?
03:25True.
03:26Yes, they would.
03:27The reason for weight limit is because of safety. The thinner the car, the lighter the car, the more chance of us getting injured.
03:35Formula One have a weight limit to protect the driver.
03:38But it's a complicated question and a five-year-old should be able to understand my answer if he asks that question.
03:43Wikipedia. You can edit your own Wikipedia comments, can't you?
03:46Yes, 2021. It was a tough year. On the sidelines, I wasn't in Formula One and I was in DTM, which was basically a GT3 car, a souped-up modern-day Ferrari.
04:05It was a tough year. I really struggled to learn them cars and it was so different to a Formula One car.
04:11I won my first race. It was a great feeling. It put me on the map back into Formula One.
04:15Around that time was the time I was also talking to Williams.
04:19Albon and his family own a number of pets consisting of eight cats, a dog and a horse.
04:24It's actually changed. It's actually got two more cats now.
04:26So I think we're operating my house at...
04:30Hang on a minute. Four...
04:32Eight...
04:34Nine... Ten...
04:36Yeah, we have got 12 cats now. So this Wikipedia page needs to be updated.
04:40The dog is still there. The horse is still there. And I think we might get another horse.
04:45A lot of cat hair. So if you're allergic to cats like my dad is, it's a disaster.
04:50How do you pronounce that? Cora? Cora? Cora? Cora? Is it Cora? Do you guys know?
04:57Cora. Cora. Cora.
04:58How could have a driver's Alex Albon? Wow. What a question. He's okay. He's not bad.
05:04He's in F1. So posted.
05:06Do F1 teams get involved at the grassroots level to identify and nurture talent?
05:11Yes, they do. And they're doing it more and more.
05:13I remember when I was go-karting, when I was 11 years old, I got signed as a Red Bull driver.
05:18I was maybe one of the youngest drivers to ever be part of a junior Formula 1 team.
05:22But nowadays you see it more and more.
05:24It's really beneficial, especially if you're a young kid.
05:26The parents sometimes don't actually know what to do with their kid.
05:28What team do they need to be with when they make the step from go-karting to Formula 4?
05:33A lot of the teams get it right.
05:35What happens to F1 cars when they crash in a race?
05:38Mechanics get angry. The first thing they do is they obviously take all the parts that are damaged over,
05:43but they also scan the cars.
05:44You know when a pregnant lady has like this, the gel and they scan the body.
05:49It's kind of like that to check for micro tears in the monocoque.
05:53They strip it to its bone and make sure everything's okay.
05:55It's normally very expensive as well, which we do get reminded about.
06:00Hopping onto YouTube.
06:02From Trinity Leicester.
06:04I'm so impressed with how he came back from those bumps with Hamilton.
06:06He's on fire lately.
06:07Thank you very much.
06:08Those bumps with Hamilton.
06:10Minor bumps along the way.
06:12Character building bumps.
06:13When I read comments a lot about Lewis and myself or the crashes we had,
06:17I honestly don't really get it.
06:18Crashes happen all the time and that wasn't the reason for a tough time in 2020.
06:23But I do feel like I've become a much stronger person since then.
06:25Character building and I feel like I'm a stronger driver for it.
06:28Next.
06:29Now we're turning into Instagram.
06:32Camille asks,
06:32Wow, I wonder what goes through their heads when they crash.
06:35It's mixed actually.
06:37During this crash, the first thing I think of is I've let the team down.
06:41I think especially when you're kind of sliding and you're going towards the barriers,
06:45you're in this hope that you don't hit the wall.
06:48But of course, you know you're going to hit the wall.
06:50It's pretty safe.
06:51And I wouldn't say I would want to crash every time.
06:53I don't think about my safety or my life when I'm about to hit a wall.
06:57Posted, this is my golf swing, which is not great.
07:00Mick actually disagrees.
07:01He says, nice swing.
07:02Has it improved since you and Lee started dating?
07:05How's her driving?
07:06So if you don't know Lily, my girlfriend, she's a pro golfer on the LPGA Tour.
07:10I got into golf kind of the same time we started to see each other.
07:14And she will try to teach me and try to tell me everything I'm doing is wrong.
07:17But I'm just like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:19So now her coach has to teach me.
07:21And my swing has improved, that's for sure.
07:23But her driving skills?
07:25Genies work.
07:27Onto TikTok now.
07:28Henry McKenzie comments,
07:29I totally forgot this even happened.
07:31How do you go from a coma to back on the racetrack in just a few weeks?
07:34So this was a comment in response to me being in hospital in Monza.
07:39I had appendicitis.
07:40I woke up with extreme pain and basically I went to the hospital that morning.
07:44I needed an operation and it turned into a bit of a mess.
07:48And so I had two weeks, I believe, to get ready for Singapore,
07:51which if you don't know is one of the hardest tracks of the year.
07:54My trainer and I, we locked ourselves in a gym pretty much for two weeks,
07:58made the flight to Singapore and then we had a crash.
08:01It was one of them feelings like, I can't believe it.
08:03But so proud of the work that my trainer and I did.
08:07I kind of take the pride in that over the result itself.
08:10ChatGBT, oi oi oi.
08:12What do you think are the most important qualities that successful racing drivers should have?
08:16I'm still trying to figure that out.
08:17There's almost the basics that they need to be good at.
08:20The first thing is you need to have a good feel,
08:22a very good sense of their butt and the way that the car moves.
08:27The second thing is mentally strong, as I think any athlete has to be.
08:31Especially in the world of Formula One with so much attention to only 20 drivers,
08:35it is a tough sport mentally.
08:38The third thing is smart.
08:40We're almost engineers as well.
08:42There's so much data, so much to know.
08:44It's really important to give the right feedback to the engineers and to the factory to know what to do with the car.
08:50You've got to be selfish in the right ways.
08:52You know, it's a team sport, but at the same time, you have to fight for yourself.
08:56You need that hunger, that self-drive in you, that dog in you.
08:59I think there's a lot of different personalities in Formula One who have been very successful.
09:04Okay, that's it for me. I'm Alex Albon and I'm signing off the internet.
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