Alex Albon believes he was one of the most 'unprepared drivers' to ever get into Formula 1 following his unexpected promotion to the big time in 2019.
Albon returns to the grid this season with Williams after a year on the sidelines, but it will only be the British-Thai racer's third season in F1.
The 25-year-old started his career at the pinnacle of motorsport with Toro Rosso in 2019 as a surprise recruit for Red Bull who had pried Albon away from a signed contract with Nissan to race in the FIA Formula E Championship.
In the latter part of the 2018 season, Albon had agreed terms to race in the all-electric series with the Japanese manufacturer, having enjoyed a productive year in Formula 2 in which he had finished third behind title winner George Russell and Lando Norris.
Formula E appeared as Albon's only opportunity to continue his path forward in the sport, and more importantly as a works driver. But then, out of the blue, Red Bull came calling.
"It happened very last minute," Albon recently told the Motor Sport Magazine Podcast.
"I don't want to go into details about how the whole thing kind of happened. But it was a tricky one because, obviously, with Nissan tied up and everything like that, it didn't make it as easy as I wish it had been, to switch from Formula E to Formula 1.
"Obviously, as a driver my age, I always want to be in Formula 1. That's everyone's goal [from] being a kid. But yeah, we just had to find a deal, and once the deal was sorted, that was it."
Looking back, Albon admitted that Formula 1 looked like a fading dream in 2018, with no opportunities emerging on the horizon for the young gun who wasn't affiliated to an F1 driver program.
"It was such a quick process," Albon added. "And at no point until kind of late Russia [in late September] had I ever thought F1 was possible, because I spent so long never being part of a programme, never being really approached by a programme, never kind of having this opportunity.
"And then suddenly, literally, at the last two races of my Formula 2 career, I got this opportunity and I was in F1."
But his sudden promotion to F1 also left him thoroughly unprepared.
"I was one of the most unprepared drivers, I think, ever to get into F1," he admitted. "Because I think everyone's done testing before they arrive into F1.
"But my first test was literally the day one of Barcelona winter testing, and that was it. And I spun! I spun straightaway. I spun in Turn 4.
"And I was like, 'Oh my God, what have I got myself into?'"
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