Earlier last month, Lando Norris, George Russell, and Alex Albon went out for a karting showdown. Sky Sports organized the qualifying and race between the trio that took place on the Bahrain International Karting Circuit. The feature had several presenters, including David Croft, who commentated during the event.
The race saw a thrilling finish after Norris and Albon blatantly cheated by cutting corners. While the McLaren driver cut across a section of the track, the Williams driver cut a chicane.
The dangerous shenanigans, however, resulted in Norris enduring an injury. Albon has now recalled the incident in a conversation with his Williams teammate Logan Sargeant. He said,
“I was too far back to make a move, so I decided to just cut the whole track. But the last corner is a chicane and it’s a gravel [trap]. If you want to cut the chicane, you have to go across the gravel. And I cut the chicane, went through the gravel trap, and there was this kind of a two-foot gap between the tarmac and the gravel so the kart just dug in. And I threw up a ton of rocks. [When I] came out of the corner, first I thought I’d won. And then they just both went past me on the inside afterwards. Lando, a rock hit his neck and he had like a mark on his neck.”
The feature was an effort to take the trio back to their karting days when they competitively raced against each other in the junior categories. Having been a part of the same generation, Lando Norris, Alex Albon, and George Russell made their F1 debut in the same year (2019).
Lando Norris, Alex Albon, and George Russell have carried forward their rivalry to F1
George Russell joined as a Williams driver and is currently racing for Mercedes. Alex Albon started out with Red Bull’s sister team, Toro Rosso (now Visa Cash App RB), and is now a Williams driver. Lando Norris, since his debut, has raced for McLaren and will continue to do so until at least the end of the 2026 season.
All three drivers hail from Britain and are often dubbed as the nation’s golden generation of motor racing drivers. Albon, who is half-Thai, owing to his mother’s roots, races under the Southeast Asian nation’s flag. His father, Nigel Albon, was a British Touring Car Championship driver himself.
Despite fierce competitiveness on the track, the trio has managed to have cordial relations off it. They are often spotted enjoying each other’s company and sharing laughs.
