Formula One drivers from Thailand
Two Thai drivers have raced in Formula One.
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As of 2026, two Formula One drivers have represented Thailand. They have entered Grands Prix and scored points between them. No Thai driver has won a race or taken pole position, but Alex Albon is the only one to have achieved a podium or set the fastest lap.
Current drivers
Alex Albon is Thailand's second Formula One driver. He first raced at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix with Toro Rosso, earning 16 points before moving up to Red Bull Racing for the Belgian Grand Prix that year. He finished the season 8th in the standings with 92 points. In 2020, Albon scored Thailand's only two podium finishes, at the Tuscan and Bahrain Grands Prix, and ended the year 7th with 105 points.
He was then replaced by Sergio Perez and became a reserve driver. Albon returned to the grid with Williams Racing, where he has since completed over one hundred races, breaking Nigel Mansell's record for most starts with the team. He also secured Thailand's first fastest lap at the 2025 São Paulo Grand Prix.
Former drivers
Prince Birabongse Bhanudej was the first Thai driver in Formula One, and the only Southeast Asian competitor until Alex Yoong. He took part in the sport’s very first race, starting fifth in a Maserati 4CLT run by Enrico Platé, but retired with a fuel shortage. Across his career, he drove for Gordini, Connaught, Scuderia Milano, and two privateer teams he owned.
He scored eight championship points, with a best result of fourth place at the 1950 Swiss Grand Prix and the 1954 French Grand Prix. He finished eighth and seventeenth in two seasons, and was unclassified in the other four. The Bira Circuit, which opened in 1986, bears his name.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Formula One drivers from Thailand (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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