Alex Albon: The Consistent Key to Williams’ Success?
Last time out at the Spanish Grand Prix, Alex Albon drove into a new era of his Formula 1 career with Williams. The race marked his 96th outing for the Grove outfit and with that, he overtook 1992 Formula 1 World Champion Nigel Mansell’s record for most Grand Prix starts with the team. The Thai-British driver marked the occasion with a special tribute helmet in Mansell’s honour - a replica of the one worn by the British driver during his Championship winning season.
“It is incredible to think that I’ve raced for this historic team more often than one of the true greats of the sport.”
Albon and Williams both seem committed to each other and to the plan to return the Williams name to the heights the team have previously achieved. So, it’s the perfect time to look at why this partnership between driver and team is valued so highly and what it means for both as they continue to work towards returning to the top of Formula 1.
Alex Albon made his debut for Williams at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2022, finishing in P13. But it wasn’t his first foray into Formula 1. Instead, it was the beginning of what is currently a lengthy second act. Having competed alongside George Russell, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc on his way up through the feeder series, Albon made his Formula 1 entrance at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix with Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls). It was a period of mixed results and unrest for both Toro Rosso and Red Bull as the senior team attempted to find a second driver alongside Verstappen who could perform at the level they required. When Pierre Gasly wasn’t able to do this, despite multiple top five finishes, in the first half of that season, the Frenchman was demoted to Toro Rosso with Albon set to replace him for the remainder of the year.
Image credit: Red Bull Content Pool
It was a lot of pressure to put on a rookie driver but Albon rose to the challenge superbly. With the exception of the Brazilian Grand Prix where he was spun out of the podium positions by a fast charging Lewis Hamilton, Albon finished in the top six in every other Grand Prix for the remainder of the season. Retained for the 2020 season at Red Bull, Albon finished in the top ten for twelve of the seventeen races, including two P3 podiums in Mugello and Bahrain. Two of the five non-point scoring results were down to DNFs (the first again caused by Hamilton) and he finished the year in P7, level on points with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz but behind the Spaniard (and future teammate) on countback. For Red Bull though, this wasn’t enough. At the end of the season, Albon was dropped from the team and would be replaced in 2021 by Sergio Perez.
Alex Albon was now out of Formula 1.
He spent a year still in the Red Bull stable but competed instead in DTM. He took three podiums, including his debut race at Monza and won the eighth race of the year at the Nurburgring. But it wasn’t where he belonged and towards the end of the year, his new home in Formula 1, Williams, came calling. Red Bull released him from their books and in 2022, Alex Albon was back in blue in Formula 1 - but this time with one of the sport's oldest teams who were beginning to put the pieces back together as they planned their bid to return to the top of the standings.
Suffice to say that Albon’s time at Williams so far has been tough. The team has been in a long period of rebuilding and Albon has been one of the few visible constants at the team. Jost Capito was in charge of the team during his first year with the team, only to be replaced by current front man James Vowels in 2023. Moreover, in his four full seasons with Williams, Albon’s cycled through four teammates. Nicholas Latifi was there when Albon arrived, only to be replaced by Logan Sargeant in 2023. Midway through the 2024 season, Sargeant was then ousted in favour of Alpine’s latest driver, Franco Colapinto. Then in 2025, Carlos Sainz arrived on the scene and it now looks like Williams have the two drivers that they want to keep for the long term. With so many moving parts, the responsibility as a team leader has fallen to him - another example of more pressure being applied in an already challenging set of circumstances.
Albon’s success since he joined the team has mirrored that of Williams’. In 2022, he scored points on just three occasions with a highest finish of ninth in Miami. Last year was his best year with the team as he finished eighth overall, nine points ahead of Sainz despite his teammate claiming two Grand Prix podiums over the course of the season. He was also the highest placed driver overall outside of the top three teams (and Max Verstappen). Williams finished in fifth in the Constructor’s Standings, their highest finish since 2017. Years of development woes, tricky cars and a constantly evolving team trying to find its footing had been tough but had also forced Albon to maximise what was possible and push the envelope further in order to make the most out of a bad situation.
“The commitment he has shown to Williams over these past five seasons says everything about him as a driver and as a person.”
But so far in 2026, things haven’t gone to plan for either Albon or Williams. With the massive overhaul in regulations, Williams were hoping to leapfrog some of the frontrunners, sacrificing a lot of development for their 2025 car in the process. However, instead of taking giant strides forwards, Williams found themselves missing the pre-season shakedown in Barcelona, were faced with a car suggested to be around 30KG overweight and are still in the process of fighting their way back through the rear of the field as they attempt to recapture the top of the midfield. Comfortably ahead of Audi, Aston Martin and Cadillac at least, their next target is overhauling Haas who are ten points ahead of them. Twenty points ahead of them are Racing Bulls with their ultimate adversary for the year, Alpine, a further sixteen points ahead of them in fifth. That’s a current total deficit of forty-six points to overhaul - a tall order at the best of times, nevermind when on the backfoot in a very competitive midfield.
“We were maybe too ambitious.”
On paper, Albon and Sainz are the stronger driver pairing against their counterparts in Haas, Racing Bulls and Alpine. But each of their opponents' cars are so far superior. Audi behind them show strong potential too and could yet make big gains on them.
This is where Albon’s experience and skill behind the wheel will make the difference. He’s done it before too. Look at his spectacular performance in Australia back in 2022 as a prime example of this. Starting 20th on the grid, having been disqualified from qualifying, he then made the hard tyre compound last essentially for the entire race. Performing the mandatory pit stop required in each Grand Prix on the penultimate lap, he dropped from P7, having made up thirteen positions over the course of the race, to P10 and claimed Williams’ first point of the season. It was a blinding display and proved Albon more than worthy of a return to Formula 1.
Albon is also known for being able to make his car as wide as possible on occasion as he drives in such a style as to prevent his opponents from overtaking him on track. Spa 2022 and Monaco 2025 are two excellent examples of this and for which he was rewarded with points finishes as a result.
“Records like this don’t happen by accident – they’re the result of years of hard work, trust, and belief on both sides. I am immensely proud of Alex and everything he has achieved with this team.”
But will it all be enough? While DTM and Formula 1 (when he was with Red Bull) provided Albon with his last win and podiums in motorsport, you have to go all the way back to his time in Formula 2 in 2018 when he was achieving both on a regular basis. He’s also never won a Championship with his best result being second in the GP3 series (the precursor to Formula 3) in 2016 where he was beaten by Charles Leclerc. 2025 marked his fourth year with the team and despite Carlos Sainz’s credentials, if you would have expected a Williams driver to score multiple podiums last year, you would have said Albon, purely because of his time and experience with the team versus Sainz’s struggles in the first half of the year and finding his place within the team. While he finished regularly in the top five to begin with, he finished outside of the points completely in Baku and Qatar where Sainz stole third away from Antonelli and Norris respectively.
Throughout his time at Williams so far, there have been a number of eccentric races that have enabled drivers further down the order to finish on the podium when they might not have otherwise. Monaco 2023, Brazil 2024 and Silverstone 2025 are three examples that come to mind as they saw Ocon, Gasly and Hulkenberg on the podium in each. But neither Albon nor Williams have been able to really capitalize on these opportunities - that was until Carlos Sainz managed it twice last season.
This shows then that Williams are perhaps experiencing the same headache that Red Bull did - or at least demonstrating what may lie in their future. Albon can be a solid and consistent driver that can gather a large amount of points for the team but may not be able to provide more than that. It’s not essential for a team to have a driver that can go that extra mile and with Sainz occupying the other seat, it helps to potentially establish a natural hierarchy moving forwards. Fortunately, in the sense of finding a silver lining, Williams are not in a position currently where this will negatively impact them. They’re in the middle of challenging times both on and off track with only five point scoring results between both drivers. Replacing either one wouldn’t make sense and doesn’t fit with the intentions of building a team around both for a solid and dependable future. The car is their main issue right now. That was evident in Barcelona as Sainz struggled throughout and Albon was forced to retire from his record breaking race due to technical issues.
When that future comes, that will be the time when Albon will need to reestablish himself and demonstrate what he and Vowles believe he is capable of.
Williams and Albon have stayed together this long for a reason and neither is keen to move on. Both will be hoping and working towards building on what came before, learning from their mistakes and providing the sport with one of the greatest comeback stories in Formula 1. If they don’t, it might be the end of the road for both of them.