Williams boss predicts Albon at Red Bull outcome – Max Verstappen has now stated in plain English, he will remain at Red Bull Racing for the 2026 Formula One season. This should put pay to most of the speculation about which drivers will be where for next year. With all hope of attracting the world champion to his Mercedes team now gone for another year, Toto Wolff will be putting pen to paper and extending his current drivers’ contracts over the coming summer break.
Indeed the mood music has changed from George Russell this week in Hungary, who was again asked about why he’d yet to put pen to paper and extend his future with Mercedes. Indeed a somewhat frustrated Russell explained to assembled media: “I’ve waited so long and I think now I want to get through this weekend, I want to go on holiday next week and enjoy the break, and there is no time pressure on my side, there’s no time pressure from the team side.”
George hinted at the issue remaining in his contract negotiations with Wolff, with the British driver not wishing to be given another one plus one year deal from the Brackley based team. “So whenever we come to an agreement, we’ll get it done, but it’s got to be right both ways,” he said.
Vowles predicts BIG driver moves
Whilst there was a threat that Verstappen deciding to move to Mercedes in 2026, Russell’s biggest difficulty in the negotiations will be the fact that the world champion may be on the market again when the new pecking order on the grid has been established next year. To this end Wolff will not want to commit to a ling terms deal with Russell, given kimi Antonelli has been declared the future star for the silver arrows team.
Williams boss James Vowles believes during the 2026 season, the F1 driver market will be frenetic with ‘big moves’ across the grid. “I think the end of 2026 will be another big driver market move. A lot of contracts come up at that stage,” the Williams boss claimed to Sky F1.
Both Williams drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz deals will expire at the end of 2026, something Vowles is acutely aware of. “Simple answer is this. I have two drivers that believe in what we’re doing in terms of the longevity of this team, the investments in this team, and the direction to go back towards winning championships.”
“And my job in all of this is making sure they’re fairly rewarded for that journey, and they want to be a part of that journey as well at the same time. And that’s what I can provide and offer them.”
Albon dominates Sainz
Alex Albon has been with the Grove based F1 team since the year after he was dismissed as Max Verstappen’s co-driver at Red Bull. His pace was never in question, although the quality of his team mates before the arrival of Sainz left a lot to be desired.
With a proven F1 Grand Prix winner alongside him now, Albon’s star is again in the ascendency. The tally in qualifying stands 9-5 to the British-Thai racer and in races where both have been classified the score is 9-3 again in Albon’s favour. The points tally is more embarrassing for the Spanish driver who has just 16 to his name while Albon has racked up a total of 54 and his efforts place Williams best behind the four front running teams.
It may be the case that other teams come in for Albon and/or Sainz, something Vowles acknowledges as possible. It could be despite Vowles best efforts to retain his current lineup, he admits: “Now if someone else wants to offer them twice that money, that’s their choice in doing so.”
“But they are key leaders that are having a direct impact on what this car looks like tomorrow and what it looks like in a year’s time – something not provided to a lot of drivers up and down the grid. Almost treated as a separate asset, a separate entity that comes in. That’s not what we provide here.
Why Verstappen snubbed Mercedes
Alex v Max would now a different story
“And the second part of it is making sure we have conversations early enough in 2026 that this is where I want us to be for the future, and instead of letting things linger until the August break, commit early.”
There have been those in the paddock, who have questioned whether Albon should be the solution to the Red Bull second seat problem which persists. Albon competed as a Red Bull junior racer and his time up against Verstappen was one of the better challenges to the Dutch world champion who was last beaten by a team mate when up against Daniel Ricciardo.
“He will go always as quick as he is, but the simple fact behind it is if you put him up against an Max now, he would be a completely different animal,” Vowles explained to assembled media in Budapest. “And the way I’m perhaps adjudicating him isn’t just about how fast he is in the car, because I think he always has been, but actually how resilient he is to everything, things going wrong around you and how strong he is in that circumstance.”
Red Bull second seat problem at its worst
The Williams chief believes that while Albon’s “peak level” has not increased significantly, “Its the ability to get there every time there? Yes, that’s what I’m seeing,” concluded Vowles.
The Red Bull problem of the second driver being way behind Verstappen, has been a problem since Daniel Ricciardo left the team in 2019. Yuki Tsunoda is fairing the worst from all those who have gone up against the talented dutch driver, having scored just seven points in eleven outings since joining the Reed Bull team at round three in Japan.
Improvements to the SF-25 mean Ferrari are steadily moving ahead of the Red Bull team, whilst a slump in Mercedes form has not affected the team’s lead over Verstappen which sits at 28 points. Disastrous practice sessions in Hungary this weekend for the world champion, saw him just twelfth in the final practice session just hours before qualifying. His best qualifying simulation saw him a massive 1.2 seconds behind thecae setter Oscar Piastri.
Albon: ‘2026 F1 cars will not reward talent’
As Formula One moves into the second half of the 2025 season, attention is growing on the huge car design regulations coming in 2026. Radical new powertrains will debut, with a 50/50 split between electrical power and the internal combustion engine (ICE).
Yet it seems the manufacturers who agreed the regulations for the new power units may have pushed the boundary too far in terms of their desire to increase the current electrical contribution by over 300%. Fears have been expressed by a number of the drivers, that at times they will be required to shift down unnecessarily to ensure the ICE charges the battery to the required level.
At the Austrian Grand Prix, Lance Stroll was highly critical of the new regulations and suggested the reason more drivers have not spoken out about this is because they are being gagged. “I don’t know if that’s racing, it’s going to be the same for everyone next year – it’s all going to be about who can do that best,” he said…. READ MORE
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