This former Red Bull driver got it wrong: 'A yes-man'

The 2019 Formula 1 season was a roller-coaster ride for Alex Albon.The Thai-British driver initially planned to race with Nissan inFormula E, before he got the call up from Red Bull Advisor HelmutMarko to drive for Toro Rosso. Six months into his F1 career thatturned into one of the fastest promotions ever seen on the grid,after senior management elected to swap out the underperformingPierre Gasly for Albon. While it was a great opportunity toshowcase his talents in a race-winning car, it proved to be tooearly for Albon as things started to get more serious compared tohis time at Toro Rosso. "The attention for that seat, which hadalready been given to many drivers, was huge," Albon told F1.com ."I struggled with that media attention. I had no manager and, apartfrom my trainer, I was on my own." Albon: "I'm much more relentlessnow" This was compounded by the fact that he did not have enoughexperience to provide adequate technical feedback yet, having comefresh from junior ranks. "In the junior categories, your speedalone is enough. Technical feedback is less important there. InFormula 3 and Formula 2 you gain some experience in that area, butthe level on that in F1 is a lot higher," he explained. "I didn'thave the experience to know what 30 to 40 solutions you can use tosolve every problem." On top of that, he faced those challengeswhile exhausting himself more and more, especially mentally whichimpacted his results on track. "I was far too much of a 'yes-man'at Red Bull. I was so eager to impress and please people that Isaid yes to everything, whether it was simulator work, PRobligations or whatever," said Albon. "I always put the team'sinterests first, which meant I was already all up when I got in thecar." The year on the sidelines then allowed Albon time to reflecton issues. It makes him look at things differently now at Williams."I'm much more relentless now. I put my own interests first and thereason is simple: I have to care about myself more than others careabout me," said Albon. "There has to be a balance between beingready for the team and making the team want to be ready for you aswell."