Last Updated on November 16 2024, 12:52 pm

The rehabilitation of Alex Albon following his mauling at the hands of Max Verstappen looks to be complete. Albon has found a niche for himself at the Williams team who clearly rate the British born Thai driver, having signed him on a multi-year deal.

Yet Albon may not be the kind of devotee James Vowles had hoped for. Speaking during his first year in charge at Grove, Vowles outlined the plans he had to bring Williams back to the front of the grid. His visionary prowess managed to persuade the FIA’s technical director, Pat Fry, to join the team.

“What I’ve done with both Pat and Alex as well, is show them why we will be moving forward on the long-term vision,” explained Vowles. “The best thing you can do is ask Alex.

 

 

 

Vowles claims Albon ‘buys the vision’

“But you’ll find he’s very comfortable with where he is at the moment because he can see a) we’ve delivered across the last six months and what the pathway is across the next few years as well.”

It seems Albon and Vowles were not on the same page as ESPN now reveal the Williams racing driver was exploring options elsewhere earlier this season. When Lewis Hamilton fired the starting gun in the F1 driver merry-go-round it was clear to all that this year would be one of the most turbulent in terms movement seen for some years and Albon like others immediately started looking for another team.

It may be Alex had become disillusioned with the limitations of the machinery Williams provide him with seeing him score just four points in his first season. This improved to twenty seven last season but once again Williams is towards the back if the field, with Albon claiming just twelve points in the first 21 races.

Mercedes were confirmed to have an interest in Albon, but the break clause fee in Albon’s contract set by Vowles was too high for a stop gap driver who9 would be replaced the following year by Mercedes academy superstar, Kimi Antonelli.

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Clever Williams contract blocks Albon move

“Williams have gained a bit of a reputation in recent years, since the arrival of James Vowles, for these very, very clever contracts,” Nate Saunders of ESPN states on the unlapped podcast. “It’s one of the reasons that Alex Albon is still there.

“Alex Albon and his team have looked at other places to get out of [Williams]. He’s got quite a big buyout clause in his contract. A lot of teams aren’t willing to spend a lot of money when they could go and get another driver without the buyout, especially if it’s a young driver you’ve invested in already,” Sanders concluded.

Yet its surprising Alex Albon has talked up the Williams project as much as he has if the driver in reality wishes to try F1 elsewhere. The Williams driver outlined on the announcement of Carlos Sainz as his new team mate, race wins would not come before 2027. The team’s last was on Frank Williams birthday in Spain 2012, where Pastor Maldonado took his one an only F1 win and then the team’s pit lane garage was set on fire.

“If I am being totally honest, I don’t see us being in position to fight for wins and titles for a while, but to do steps where we start nipping in and getting podiums and whatnot,” Albon told Autosport. “I believe that 2026 would be difficult, but winning in ’27 would be much more realistic.”

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Williams legend questions Albon’s toughness

Williams legendary driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that Albon will crack under the pressure Carlos Sainz will bring.“A rookie against Albon is hard but it is possible and Albon looks…every time he is under pressure,” said the Colombian.

“Every time he has had a fast partner, he has made a mistake and he has crashed and he has done everything and he continues to do it.”

If Montoya is correct, Albon is set to struggle next year after seeing off rookie drivers like Nicholas Latifi and Logan Sargeant. Sainz is a completely different kettle of fish having pushed his team mate Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.

Leclerc remains very much the future for Ferrari despite Lewi Hamilton joining the team for a glory home run before he retires from the sport. Yet the results Sainz has delivered has meant this Ferrari pairing has been very evenly-matched in their time together overall, with Leclerc 2-1 ahead in terms of who has come out on top in the Drivers’ Championship – finishing just six points ahead of Sainz last season.

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Colapinto piled on the pressure

Albon has seemed a little unsettled since the arrival of Franco Colapinto and the tally of points 8-5 in favour of Albon bears out he is facing much stiffer competition. Logan Sargeant in his 36 outings across 2023/24 claimed just one point in his F1 career and that was because two drivers ahead of him were disqualified after the chequered flag.

Albon confirmed Williams made the biggest change to their 2024 FW-46 from its predecessor, the largest the team has undertaken for almost a decade. No longer were Williams to focus their design on low down force tracks where they have experienced success in recent years.

This inevitably led to early season teething troubles as Williams fielded an overweight car. Then a number of expensive shunts including Albon’s in Australia during FP1 saw the team short of parts and taking an extra-ordinary decision.

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Williams unsure what they’ll run in Vegas

Having failed to repair Alex’s car during FP2, Vowles called up Sargeant to tell him he would be forfeiting his own Williams car in favour of Albon for the remainder of the Melbourne weekend.

Last time out in Brazil, a huge crash for Albon in qualifying, meant the team had not enough time to repair the FW-46. With the turnaround between qualifying and Grand Prix being just two and a half hours, Albon was forced to sit and watch his team mate.

In treacherous conditions Colapinto battled on during the Sao Paulo GP, while fellow rookie Oliver Bearman was complaining over team radio he feared for his life. Then just as his tyres were fading and the pit stop approached, Franco smashed into the barriers while climbing the hill to the start finish straight.

This again leaves Williams in a predicament, with just two weeks before the final triple header run in, James Vowles suggested the team may struggle to field both cars next time out in Las Vegas. 

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If the latest paddock rumours are to be believed Jack Doohan has a race contract with Alpine for just the first five races of the 2025 season. The Australian has been the team’s reserve driver this year after three seasons in F2 with an end of year best finish of third in 2023.

Alpine announced the promotion of their reserve driver as the F1 summer break drew to a close, some eight weeks after the appointment of Flavio Briatore as the team’s consultant. So unlike with Sauber-Audi, the driver was appointed under the current regime whereas Nico Hulkenberg was signed by the Swiss-German collaboration before Mattia Binotto arrived to replace Andreas Stella.

Just as one of the silliest of silly seasons was drawing to a close, after Lewis Hamilton kicked it off in February in spectacular fashion, along came a certain Argentinian driver who appears to have caused a number of teams to re-evaluate their driver line up for 2025… READ MORE