Alexander Albon secures full-season F2 DAMS seat
Alexander Albon will contest the rest of the Formula 2 season with French squad DAMS, confirming it was the only team he wanted to race with in 2018
The Thai-British driver had been racing on a round-by-round deal for the first four races in Bahrain and Azerbeijan, having won the Baku feature race and he finished fourth in the season opening feature at Sakhir in his second year in the Formula 1 support category.
After starting issues, he finished the reverse-grid races at both tracks in 13th, and sits second in the championship behind Carlin's McLaren Formula 1 junior Lando Norris.
After taking four points for pole, the gap is 10 points, and Norris starts the race in eighth after struggling to put together a good lap in qualifying.
"For me this year it was DAMS or nothing," Albon told Autosport.
"I had to get on with the job, I just took it race by race.
"I had a strong winter testing programme with DAMS so I was always hopeful it would work out.
"It's nice to have it all sorted, on the other side now there's pressure to perform."
Albon lines up on pole for the second feature race in a row in Barcelona on Saturday, and is hopeful that he can become a serious title contender among drivers like Norris, George Russell and Jack Aitken, who all have Formula 1 junior roles.
"The aim is to fight for the championship," he added.
"We're starting to get to grips with the car.
When asked about if he thought it was harsh he had been overlooked for an F1 junior role, he added: "I just focus on my job.
"Of course it's always nice to be beating people in general. If everything works out then hopefully there is something [a role] for me."
DAMS team boss Francois Sicard added: "Alex is extremely quick and it's great to have him, we have a strong line-up with Nicky [Nicholas Latifi].
"We have two really strong drivers, so now it is up to us and them to deliver."
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