Revealed: Albon wanted to leave Williams for 2024 – Alex Albon is reportedly keen to move on from Williams but his well crafted contract from the team did not allow it for 2024. The British/Thai racer was brought into Formula One under the stern gaze of Dr. Helmut Marko and the Red Bull junior racing programme.
For many Albon was a left field choice to bring into the then named Toro Rosso team given he had not won any of the junior championships in which he’d competed. Alex had initially been a Red Bull junior driver but was dropped from the programme several years previously.
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Albon was third in the 2018 F2 championship but was given the opportunity the next year to race alongside Daniil Kvyat following Pierre Gasly’s promotion to race alongside Max Verstappen. Thus the likeable racing driver returned to his Red. Bull fold making his F1 debut.
Having qualified P13 at the season opener, Albon had an average outing in Melbourne finishing P14. Yet he claimed points in Bahrain, China, Monaco, Germany and Hungary and then was faced with the biggest shock of his life.
Red Bull decided Pierre Gasly was not cutting the mustard and dropped him back to their junior Toro Rosso outfit after the summer break. But it was not Kvyat who they promoted, but Albon who had now completed just 12 races in his rookie season.
The Thai driver faired reasonably in his new environment but embarrassingly for Red Bull fell three points short of Gasly at the end of the year.
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Paddock thinking sees Albon out
Red Bull retained Albon into 2020, a year that was to prove memorable for all the wrong reasons. 10 grand Prix were cancelled due to Covid and Albon who was looking to establish himself appeared lost at times in all the confusion.
Alex claimed two podiums that season and scored in all but 5 of the hastily reorganised 15 events which took place. Yet with Red Bull having replaced Ferrari as Mercedes closest challengers, there was a theory circulating the paddock that had they had a better number two to Max – they may have beaten Mercedes.
This was laughable in reality given the points difference between the teams was enormous. The silver arrows scored 573 points while Red Bull’s respectable 319 was well short of the mark.
Even had Albon matched Verstappen’s scoring that year, Red Bull would have been a mere 109 points closer the the uber dominant world champions.
Albon wanted by other teams for this year
Regardless, Albon was replaced for 2021 by Sergio Perez and the Thai spent a year watching from the sidelines with no seat available.
For 2022, Williams decided Albon would fit their bill nicely as George Russell was being called up on high by Mercedes. Since his roller coaster introduction into F1, Albon has found a place of stability with the Grove based team and signed a multi-year contract at the end of 2022 which ESPN reports will keep him there until 2025.
Albon kept Williams ahead of the back of the grid four teams in 2023, scoring 27 of their 28 points last year and driving them to a P7 finish in the constructors’ – their best since 2017. Only in Melbourne where Alex hit the wall does he believe that points scoring opportunities were wasted and for a team like Williams that kind of maximisation of opportunity is vital.
ESPN also report that an unnamed two other teams came in for Albon wanting him as part of their driver lineup for the coming 2024 series. Yet the contract he signed with Williams is watertight and even though Alex considered his options, the team refused to allow him to go.
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Williams progressing
Williams are progressing in terms of capital spend on updating 20 year old facilities and machinery, but whether they can make the leap this year to catch Alpine who were 6th is a big ask, whoever is driving the car.
Now with several teams monitoring Albon, he will be a key chess piece in the driver market moves coming in 2024.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved at the team,” Albon told assembled media: “I think about the races that we’ve scored points in and we haven’t had really a smooth race where we’ve just gone, ‘Oh, that was nice’.
“I wish we had more of them. But unfortunately, a lot of them are holding up a bunch of cars behind us, which is what we’ve become renowned for.”
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Alex set for the heavy lifting again
The key for a team like Williams is to develop a car which Albon can score points with week in and out. The somewhat strange decision to retain Logan Sargeant who scored just one point – and by default due to Leclerc and Hamilton being disqualified – will mean the bulk of the heavy lifting in 2024 will rest again on Albon’s shoulders.
“The car has improved a lot from last year, we’re going into every weekend feeling like there’s a chance to score points,” Albon reflected. “But even in that case, our race pace is not always that great and yet we still come away with good points.
“I have to say that in reflection, I’ve had a lot of fun moments from this year and I think it also just speaks to the fact that I think Melbourne was the only race where I felt like I missed an opportunity to score points. But every other race we’ve done this year, when there’s been a chance, we’ve done it and I think that’s been the main difference I guess to our rivals.”
With Sargeant retained, the grid is exactly the same for the start of this year as it was the end of last. This is the first time in F1 history no driver changes have occurred from one season to the next.
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With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
