Alex Albon ‘back home’ after worrying post-surgery development

Jon Wilde
Alex Albon arriving at the track. Barcelona, May 2022.

Williams' Alex Albon arrives at the track ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. Barcelona, May 2022.

Some very welcome good news – Alex Albon is reported to be back home after his bout of appendicitis at the Italian Grand Prix took a worrying turn.

On Saturday morning, a matter of minutes before final practice at Monza, the Williams team announced Albon would be unable to take part in the remainder of the race weekend due to a bout of appendicitis.

His place was taken by Nyck de Vries, who went on to capture many headlines with a sparkling Formula 1 debut display in which he reached the second part of qualifying, started eighth on the grid due to engine penalties incurred by rivals and finished the race in ninth – scoring two World Championship points.

On Monday, 24 hours after the race, Williams then issued an alarming press release that revealed Albon, who required surgery to have his appendix removed, had ended up in intensive care due to suffering respiratory problems.

The rest of the bulletin was positive, however, saying the London-born Thai driver was on the road to recovery and it was hoped he would leave hospital on Tuesday.

It appears that was indeed the case and that the 26-year-old has, according to BBC Sport, “been released from hospital in Milan and is back home in Monaco following the appendectomy”.

The BBC update added: “Recovery going to plan. Target remains Singapore Grand Prix.”

Williams subsequently confirmed the news by telling the PA news agency: “We are happy to confirm Alex Albon has now returned home.”

Albon’s hopes of not missing any more F1 action were helped by the cancellation of the originally scheduled race at Sochi on September 25, which was called off at the end of February.

That means the intended triple-header has become a mere double-header in Singapore and Japan on the first two Sundays in October, giving Albon an extra week to recuperate than if Sochi had been going ahead.

Four points have been scored by Albon in his first year with Williams at three different races – Australia, Miami and Belgium – with De Vries’ two at Monza increasing the team’s total by 50%.

Williams sit last of 10 in the Constructors’ Championship with Nicholas Latifi having failed to add any points to their tally so far.

Best wishes again from all at the PlanetF1 team to Alex Albon for his continued recovery.