Alex Albon reveals shock Fernando Alonso request as off-track business booms

Alex Albon thought Fernando Alonso was joking at first by requesting a pair of shoes from the Williams driver’s new range and went on to promote them at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Thai racer, through his ‘Alex Albon Athletics’ business venture, gives fans the chance to purchase his ‘Classic Marina’ limited edition shoes, as demoed at the 2023 Singapore GP.

And the person who got heavily involved in the marketing work came as a huge surprise even to Albon.

Fernando Alonso loves him some Alex Albon merch

Speaking in a Williams video on X, Albon told the story of how Alonso caught him by surprise in Singapore by asking for a pair of the shoes.

Big man Fernando 🤝 AA23s 👟

Watch @alex_albon and @LoganSargeant rate their social media in 2023! 😅👇

— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) December 4, 2023

He would then proceed to wear them around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, including during Sunday’s drivers’ parade.

And it seems his promotional endeavours worked a treat, as currently the shoes are sold out.

“I thought this was pretty cool. Singapore, got big man Fernando to rep the shoes,” said Albon.

“At the time, I thought ‘I’m not going to give it to drivers, that’s just cringy. I’ll only give it to them if they ask.’

“And we were walking back from the drivers’ briefing [in Singapore] and he was like ‘I want a pair!’

“And I was like ‘Yeah, yeah of course you can!’ I didn’t think he was being serious but he was.

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“So, I literally ran to the hospitality, got him a pair of shoes [and] he came in wearing them straight away and went to the track parade on Sunday wearing my shoes.

“He promoted them, he posted them on Instagram. Top guy.”

Business is booming off-track for Albon and the same is certainly true for his work on the track too.

Having excelled in Williams colours since making his return to the grid with the Grove outfit in 2022, Albon took his team to a P7 finish in the F1 2023 Constructors’ Championship, scoring 27 of their 28 points.

Albon’s form has made him, as former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner recently put it, “hot property” once more on the driver market as Williams look to keep their star driver beyond F1 2024.

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