Albon’s charity work inspired by “role models” Hamilton and Vettel

Hamilton and Vettel have been vocal over the years about a variety of issues from race, discrimination and climate change.

With Vettel calling time on his career at the end of 2022, and Hamilton heading into the twilight years of his career, there were concerns that this era of drivers speaking up about issues that concern them would be short lived.

However, Albon has been busy in his native country of Thailand, visiting a local orphanage.

Speaking to the media ahead of Williams’ launch of the F1 2023 car, Albon spoke about how his perspective has changed now he’s older and matured.

“People like Seb, Lewis, I see them as role models, what they do,” Albon said. “They’ve got to a point in their careers as well… I feel like they’ve got enough security to be able to spend time doing all these amazing things that they do. Initially when you started F1, the first thing you’ve got to perform so your head space isn’t all these kinds of things. 

“I am 26 now, I feel like I am mid-age in F1 which is crazy to say. Being in a position that I am in, I guess with time and age you start to realise how you can give back to people who need it. It’s something I did slowly bit by bit.”

Albon recently visited the Wat Sakraeo orphanage in Thailand.

The Thai driver got involved because of former Williams’ boss Jost Capito’s brother, Volker Capito, who lives in Bangkok and has founded the Iceman charity. 

Ahead of the 2022 Australian Grand Prix, Albon visited the orphanage and returned to action with his hair dyed red - with the children at the orphanage responsible for this.

Talking about his experiences in Thailand, Albon admitted it was a “bit of an eye-opener” for him, and now he wants to do more to help those in need.

“For example I visited an orphanage,” Albon added. “I had a bit of free time in Thailand and Jost told me his brother was helping in this charity and he said ‘if you’ve got some free time you should visit it’. I was just blown away by this. It’s an incredible orphanage. It’s like 2500 children, it was a massive place. 

“Firstly to experience what effects as a human I can give to people and almost a self realisation, my platform and how I can change lives. Lewis and Seb know that and they’ve done it 20 times over. For me it was a bit of an eye-opener. 

“Once you start doing that kind of thing you really understand the effects you can have on people and when you see the results of what you’re doing, you just want to do more.”