F1's Alex Albon on getting ready for the Miami GP - and his 14 cats
The Williams driver is ready to race again this weekend after the unexpected five-week break.
Alex Albon joined Williams for the 2022 Formula 1 season [Getty Images] Hanging out on a beach seems to have been the go-to choice for Formula 1 drivers during this unplanned break at the start of the new season. Whether it's splashing around in the sea with Kim Kardashian like Sir Lewis Hamilton or a shirtless Charles Leclerc strolling across the sand with his wife, there's definitely been more time to chill. But Williams driver Alex Albon says he's been kept busy in a slightly different way.
"I think I have a big fan club behind the scenes. They might not be all human, but they're there," he tells BBC Newsbeat. He's talking about his self-titled Albon Zoo of 14 cats, dogs and horses that will be well-known to fans of Netflix's popular F1 doc Drive to Survive.
"It's so hectic but cat life is calming. It's a calming chaos, you could say. " Alex Albon had two podium finishes while at Red Bull with four-time world champion Max Verstappen [Getty Images] Newsbeat caught up with Albon before the sport's return to racing in Miami this weekend after a five-week break.
The British-Thai driver says the enforced time off, after two races were cancelled because of the Iran war , came at the right time. "We started this year on the back foot," he says. "We have to have a bit of time to catch up.