Alexander Albon understands why Daniel Ricciardo needs a year on the sidelines. The British-Thai driver himself did not drive in the premier class for a year in 2021 after a challenging season at Red Bull Racing, but Williams offerered him a permanent spot for 2022. Ricciardo, who drove for McLaren for two seasons, now also has to do a year without a full-time seat, but that is a completely different situation, according to Albon.

Speaking to Motorsport he believes his situation cannot be compared to Ricciardo's and he was in a different position. The Williams driver said that at the time he was without a seat he was very keen to race. Ricciardo, on the other hand, previously said he needed a year away from the sport. Albon does understand where he is coming from given the few bad years Ricciardo faced. He knows better than anyone what it's like to have a disappointing season and explains that it exhausts you immensely, especially the noise in the paddock and, of course, your own performance.

Impact

According to Albon, drivers are born to be competitive, which makes it hard not to race. He explained that they live by it and it is all about performance and doing a good job. Albon also revealed that it took a few weeks to deal with the emotional impact of missing out on a seat, but he always kept the feeling that it was not over yet and he still had a chance to return.