by In 2018, George Russell, Lando Norris and Alexander Albon took first, second and third place in the Formula -Zweier championship. The following year she made her debuts in Formula 1. Russell and Norris have been developed as two of the best drivers on the network of Mercedes and McLaren and have 12 racial victories and 57 podiums between them.
Albon’s path was rougher. The 29-year-old had enormous first 12 races for Toro Rosso in his debut year. In fact, so good that it was selected by Red Bull to replace the below -average Pierre Gasly alongside Max Verstappen from mid -2019. Albon was better than his predecessor in the safest work in the F1, but was sold with the team after 26 races.
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Then came from the F1 for a year, racing vehicles before returning to the net with Williams in 2022 when he replaced Mercedes-bound Russell. Since then he has constantly rebuilt his reputation, while the team did the same and both recovered from turbulent times. After 13 rounds of this season, Albon has 54 points and nine top 10 positions. The only men above him run either a McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull.
Albon on the way to a sixth place at the Belgian F1 Grand Prix, one of nine top-10, which he had this season so far-Getty Images/Nicolas Economou this season
Is this the highlight of his time in sport? “I would say it, I think it’s my best season,” says Albon Telegraph sport. “We had some challenging races this year, in which it was also under mixed conditions. I think of Melbourne, Miami, Spa, Silverstone and we always seem to be able to get away with good points.
“I am very happy. I don’t think it was another year in my other years, but that the team itself took a big step forward and I was able to carry out races with good points.”
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Albon has put a long way to Red Bull since these difficult times. The second place in this team would currently be very few drivers ago. It was a problem since Daniel Ricciardo went to Renault. This year Liam Lawson took two races, and the reigning Yuki Tsunoda has not occupied more than 12 since the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Everything despite the dusting brilliance. So does Albon reflect in 26 races in a cheaper light over these 181 points and two podiums in 26 races?
“My time there – it is quite difficult to judge. I had 1½ years in the car and it was a difficult car to drive at the time. I was relatively inexperienced for the role, we say,” he says. “This is external in many ways [to] How people see my Red Bull job.
“Realistically, it is a difficult place. You have it against one of the hardest and talented drivers who may have ever been to Formula 1. We are lucky that he was racing with us here and I was very inexperienced at that time,” he says.
Albon, who talked to the picture of the Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda in the Belgian Grand Prix, fought in his career next to the Dutchman – Getty Images/Mark Sutton
Albon is open about his defects in these seasons, despite a difficult car. In 2020, he scored 105 points for Verstappen 214. Sergio Pérez, who replaced Albon at Red Bull, achieved 152 for Champion Vice 437. Fairness was perhaps a victim of his own success after being so adaptable and fundamentally quick in this first stint in Toro Rosso.
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“I did not understand in which areas I had to improve, whether it was on the right track, off the track, my feedback; the technical side of Formula 1, with which I was not up to date,” he says.
“They look back, it was a massive topic of conversation. I remember that my second race in 2020 was a kind of what Liam had, the people who asked my head, and I ended P5 and P6 in most of my races,” recalls Albon.
“Now I am a complete package, so there are many IFS and BUTS and MAYBES of my time at Red Bull. But if I look back, I could have had nothing else. Experience is learned, it is not deserved. You only have to go through these difficult times and understand what time needed for me.”
Albon served time and experience. At 117 Grand Prix, he is now able to get the best of Williams FW47, which is a more predictable and stable animal than its immediate predecessors.
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In earlier seasons, Williams could make borders almost impossible to certain tracks. Albon says you managed to “iron” some of the negative DNA and properties of these cars. This means that he can trust the car that he has more under him. In 2024 there were only four top 10 places. This year he already had nine, not that he gives his performance additional validity.
“A super weekend last year would have been P10, P9. A hard weekend would have been P17, P18. This year it is more like you could have a good weekend. It could be a P6, P7 and then is a difficult weekend p11, P12,” he says.
“When I came to Williams in 2022, it was clear to me that the perception of what was a good weekend is completely different from what it was for other people. I took a while until I got used to it.
“A great -played weekend that feels good to drive, play well, actually had a P17, P18.
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There is reason to be excited now. This year would always be an important one for Albon’s call. While he has been the best Williams driver since he started, the scale of his teammates from 2022 to 2024 was not high.
First there was Nicholas Latifi and then Logan Sargeant, both of which came out of their depths and ultimately from the F1. In 2025 there was the arrival of Carlos Sainz-one four-time racing winner, the Charles Leclerc together in her four seasons together in Ferrari. So far, he has measured himself well against the Spaniard, scored 54 points to 16 points and leads 10-6 in qualifying.
“We were very positive, for example, he also helped me in races like Melbourne,” says Albon about her relationship.
When I set it to him that Sainz showed a better season than his results, he is not sure. Not because he does not agree to the premise, but because it is not something he draws attention.
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“I’m trying to think about it at all, but I am on my own side of my own performance that it is difficult for me to say,” he says.
Albon says he and Carlos Sainz have founded a strong working partnership at Williams – Getty Images/Rudy Carezzevoli
Albon makes it clear that he does not give credibility to perceive his services or reputation. He no longer gives his services valid just because he has scored points. He also does not pay attention to the noise that inevitably goes hand in hand with the F1 driver.
“I ignore it – it is not” attempts “to ignore. Everything about the race is internally how you run and execute a weekend how you drive, even if you push the car to the border and stay in your zone and in your flow state, we say everything comes from concentration on yourself.
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“Of course I will look at the data in moments and compare with Carlos, for example, and find out where I have to improve as a driver.
“The results, whether it is P5 or a P11 in Bahrain, it is still the same, it is still the same process. I think they are rewarded differently in relation to a point system, but I still go to my race in the same way.”
It is an approach that seems to work.
