05/11/2010 - 09.00h The young European Champion and World Cup winner of KF3 talked to us about his future...

 

During the last race of the Spanish Championship, at the Alcañiz circuit on MotorLand Aragón motorsport park, I saw a young man walking by the paddock among many stressful people who were hard to try to find the last tenth of a second. On contrary, this young man was totally relaxed and that's probably because he had done his job two months ago and he was in Spain just to see his friends racing. His name: Alex Albon. His 2010 results: Winner of the European Championship and the World Cup. When I congratulated him he shook my hand firmly, and with a great determination, same as when he drives his Intrepid with a TM engine on the tracks around Europe. The first question was of course...

-What are you doing here, at MotorLand Aragón on the Spanish Championship?
I'm not here to race, although I'd love to do it, this circuit seems very interesting! I'm here with Diego (Rodríguez, KF3 Intrepid driver who was fighting for the Spanish Championship that weekend). We both were at the Monaco Kart Cup last weekend together, and I came here with my mechanic, Aitor Medina.

 

 

-How was the Monaco Kart Cup?
Not too good for both of us! Diego had a crash in his first heat and got hurt so it was the end of his weekend. I began 18th the pre-final because although I won my second heat, I had a dnf in my first heat. I was then involved in a big crash and had to retire in my pre final and therefore started  28th in the final and eventually finished 4th which I was happy about.

-How and why did you begin in karting?
My father was a driver, so since I could remember,  my life was always involved in motorsport. When I was seven years old my father made a little track with some old tyres and bricks to mark out corners in our barn and that's how I began. My first International race was in Malaysia when I was 9, and the next year I did my first race at the British Championship.

-What are your main results?
Well, in 2006 I won the Kartmasters Grand Prix and the Honda Cadet Super 1 Championship, and in 2007 I won the Vodafone Karting Challenge, a trophy presented by Lewis Hamilton, at Milton Keynes. That year I finished runner up in the Comer cadet Championship.  Then in 2008 I moved up to KF3 and won the Kartmasters again and finished 3rd in the British Championship.  I think I would have probably done better but I had to miss a few races due to a broken arm that year!!. One of my best seasons was 2009, winning the Winter Series, the British Championship and the Formula Kart Stars Championship, and finishing 5th in WSK in my first season in Europe. And this year I joined Intrepid and together we won the best titles, the World Cup at Braga and the European Championship at Genk.

-What do you think about this season?
I think it was really good with having won both titles, almost perfect really, as in the WSK Euro Series I had bad luck at the first round in La Conca with the consequence that I couldn't really fight for the championship.

 

 

-Which is your best race of 2010?
I think Braga, the World Cup, was my best weekend. I was on pole for the qualifying, won all my heats, won the pre-final and, as you know, won in the final!!

-What did you learnt this year?
I learnt to keep calm in a difficult situation. At the beginning of the season I could get really upset if something went wrong, but finally I understood that it's better to be calm and try to work out the best solution and  to do it well.

 

 

-How is your life out of races?
It's not easy, I do spend a lot of time traveling from race to race, and then it's the physical training which takes a lot of my time  and of course the school and the homework.

-What do you think you should improve?
I'm still young, I'm just 14, so there are still many things I have to learn in life in general and in Motorsports and use those knowledge to improve myself.

 

 

-How is your life since you won the European Championship and the World Cup?
Well, it's not different, just with a big smile on my face. (laugh)

-Who are your strongest rivals on the track?
Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly are always fast, but there are a lot of other drivers too who could race well in certain races and so they are also my rivals.

-You are a Red Bull Driver. Is this an extra pressure?
Not at all, it's an incentive to do well.  I am very fortunate to be in this position which I will always be grateful for.

 

 

-Do you talk with Helmut Marko after your wins? What did he say?
Yes sometimes.  Dr Marko is always interested. He would phone me and congratulated me too.  I would tell him what happened in the race.  He is a kind person.

-How about next season?
For sure I'll be moving out of KF3, I'll either move up to KF2 or the SKF or may be a mixture of both.  I have not been told of the final decision yet.

-And will you be disappointed if you don't win any race in 2011?
Next season is probably more about learning. But my target is still to win races.

-You seems to be very serious at podiums. How do you celebrate your championships?
Well, I'm not serious but probably quite shy. I didn't have a party to celebrate, I just stayed with my team and family.  I had to go back to school the next day!!

 

 

-In which circuit would you like to do the most important race of the year?
Well, La Conca is a very good track, I like it a lot. But seeing this circuit (Alcañiz, in Spain), it seems to be a great place to hold some important championship races, I'd like to race here someday. Oh, and, of course, since the World Cup, I like Braga a lot! And of course, Genk. (laugh)

 

Alcañiz, October 22th 2010