IndyCar was the preferred option when the F1 return didn’t happen

After spending that season on the sidelines as Red Bull’s test and reserve driver, the Thai was announced as a replacement for George Russell at Williams ahead of next year’s Italian Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old, who clinched two podium positions with Red Bull last year before being replaced by Sergio Perez, held the top spot in the DTM with a Ferrari 488 GT3 for AF Corse and won his first race since 2018 last month Nürburgring.

Speaking at Monza on Saturday, Albon revealed that IndyCar and Formula E would be his fallback options if F1 hadn’t worked out, with a move to America the preferred option. He was supposed to compete for the Nissan e.dams Formula E team in 2018-19 before being called up to the Red Bull sister team Toro Rosso late in 2019.

Albon attended the Indianapolis Street Race last month to get a feel for what IndyCar was like and what options were available.

IndyCar team boss Dale Coyne, who signed ex-Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean to his squad this year, announced that Albon was on his radar for 2022 but was also being considered by other teams.

When asked if he was seriously considering driving in alternative series like IndyCar, Albon said, “Yes, I have and you have to too.

“You think of F1, but FE was also thought of. You can plan as much as you want for Formula 1, but if it doesn’t happen, you have nothing. You can’t play this all or nothing game.

“So I had to think about a Plan B route: and these two [series] came to mind. At the time, I was more attracted to IndyCar than FE.

“I went to Indianapolis to see the races and I enjoyed it. I also spoke to Romain, of course, and it looked exciting. But my priority has always been F1.

Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda

Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images

“The other thing is that F1 can wait because the decisions are made relatively late compared to other series. So it was quite a difficult balance trying to keep the options open for the F1 seats while the movement, the music chairs, were still going on. “

Albon said his year behind the scenes at Red Bull hasn’t been an easy one, but he’s really looking forward to being back at Williams next season.

“It was also a year to think about things, things that I could change and learn from 2020,” he explained.

“It was also a pretty difficult year. Just watching on the sidelines is never fun.

“But it aroused my hunger and of course I am very grateful and very excited to be able to use it again.”