After the Alpine-Oscar Piastri storm across the summer break, teams up and down the paddock have been eager to pledge their loyalty and integrity.
Oscar Piastri having risen through the Alpine academy ranks as part of the setup and tested on numerous occasions, denied he would be promoted to replace Fernando Alonso and signed a deal with McLaren for 2023 instead.
The young prodigy was accused of being disloyal and lacking integrity by Alpine’s team principal Otmar Szafnauer.
In the course of last season, Red Bull demoted Albon from the race-to-reserve driver role, sending him instead to the German DTM series as well as coaching AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Alex Albon has cited loyalty to Formula 1 as being one of the reasons he stayed with Williams rather than joining other teams after his year away.
Albon explained: “Formula 1 is a very small paddock, you will always show loyalty.”
“On my side, a personality trait is that I really keep people close to me who have helped me from the very beginning until now.
“A lot of the people you see in the paddock, guests of mine that are in the paddock, are people who have always helped me along the way. It is important.”
The now 26-year-old was dropped by Red Bull at an early age before being brought back into the fold at Toro Rosso [now AlphaTauri] in 2019.
Being given another opportunity to race in Formula One by Williams, the Thai-British driver explained he is extremely grateful.
“I have had a lot of support coming forwards from a young age, from Red Bull, even from Williams as it is now,” said the 26-year-old.
He added: “I am extremely thankful for the chances I have been given.”
