Alex Albon on having Carlos Sainz as a benchmark and Williams’ ambitions over next few years

When he joined Williams in 2022 – as a replacement for George Russell when his friend moved to Mercedes – it was something of a lifeline.

His had been a circuitous route to F1. A childhood karting rival of Verstappen, Russell and Leclerc, for a long time it looked as if F1 might pass Albon by.

He finally made it in 2019, offered a seat by Red Bull in their second team. Within half a season, after a series of strong performances for Toro Rosso, he was promoted to the main team alongside Verstappen.

His performances in the second half of 2019 earned a full season in 2020, but like Pierre Gasly before him and everyone since, he struggled to get on terms with the Dutchman and was dropped at the end of the year.

After a year on the sidelines as Red Bull’s reserve, he won the Williams seat, partly on Russell’s recommendation, but until this year he had been teamed only with second-rate drivers. Sainz’s arrival is his first opportunity to show what he can do – and he has grabbed it with both hands.

But Albon’s performances against Sainz raise a thorny question. How does one explain how he can struggle against Verstappen at Red Bull, but now be ahead of Sainz?

Albon says: “What it means is that in F1 it is easy for everyone to fall into the trap of: ‘All the drivers are at the same level all the time, and there is no such thing as suiting a car or not suiting a car.’

“And I think that for the same reason why you’re seeing so many drivers struggle up against Max, just flip the script and put Max in a different car, I think he’d still be very quick, don’t get me wrong about that. But I don’t think you’re going to see the same gaps that you see that he’s putting on his team-mates now.

“And for the same reason, some drivers it clicks, some drivers it doesn’t.

“I remember my first lap in a Williams, despite being down on downforce considerably to what I was used to, it still clicks.

“And don’t forget that my six-month stint in Toro Rosso at the time was strong as well. And it just swings.

“I look at it like golf, even MotoGP is a fantastic example.

“These drivers, these players, they are always talking about: ‘The bike doesn’t suit me’ or ‘these golf clubs don’t suit me’. And they’re changing clubs, they’re changing putters; the bikes, they’re changing the feeling of the bike. They’re always trying to pursue this confidence in the bike.

“But then in racing it’s almost like we don’t regard that and it’s just everyone should be able to deal with everything all the time. The best drivers do. But that’s where you’re seeing differences.”