Alex Albon is by far, one of the most highly rated and yet, under appreciated young F1 drivers around. He might not have a Grand Prix winning car akin to the sport’s latest (and dazzling) race winner- Lando Norris.
Similarly, he might not belong to a red racing overall yet or in other words, the sport’s greatest Constructor that is stationed in South Europe.
Likewise, he might not be driving for a persistent force to reckon with, one that much like a Max Verstappen constantly gobbles up the Drivers world championship.
And yet, Alex Albon brings a high level of skill to the sport and a sense of assurance to a racing outfit, aspects it truly needs to solidify its imminent future.
Which is why the most recent headlining act from the topsy turvy world of Formula 1 makes absolute sense that Alex Albon has extended his stay at his current Williams team to a new deal that safeguards his racing future and at the same time, gives the British outfit a chance to regroup and build on for future seasons.
As a matter of fact, Albon, who is all of 28, already had a deal with his current Williams team that had him engaged until the completion of the FIA F1 world championship 2025 season. But extending his stint with the world famous British constructor thanks to a new multi-year contract extension ensures greater consistency between a driver who needs to prove himself in Grand Prix racing’s highest annals and a team that is ever so keen to bounce back to a respectable midfield position having spent last several years as staple back markers.
What must be regarded here in no uncertain terms is that both Alex Albon and Williams function smoothly with one other; the Thai-British drivers, currently competing with Williams for a third consecutive season respects the team and the racing outfit, in turn, loves working with the enthusiastic youngster.
But for all practical purposes, Alex Albon brings sheer utility to the stable at Williams. Not only is he the scorer of a Formula 1 podium on two separate occasions, he also brings a fairly decent quantum of experience having been around the highest annals of the racing landscape for not less than half a decade.
A lot has changed, if you were to think about it closely, ever since Alex Albon arrived on the Formula 1 scene, circa 2019.
While the likes of Vettel and Raikkonen retired and have today become former F1 drivers, an interesting coterie of once highly-talked-about youngsters have disappeared from the current grid. Think the highly sought after Mick Schumacher and Antonio Giovinazzi, the German having raced for Haas while the Italian having driven for Alfa Romeo in the recent past.
Albon, in all this time, has persisted, despite facing his own share of ups and downs in the unpredictable world of the Formula 1 circus.
While debuting at Scuderia Toro Rosso alongside Russian driver Daniil Kvyat, Albon would jump to the senior Red Bull team partnering the brute force in motion called Max Verstappen.
But after attaining what could only be called lukewarm success, manifested by two vital podiums in 2020, one each at Tuscany and Sakhir, Albon would find himself demoted- rather harshly- in a Test and Reserve driver role though still with Red Bull.
For any youngster aiming to grow further having arrived at the senior Red Bull team, such a demotion would cause a scar and a breakdown of sorts. But, the always polite, if also resolute Albon is built, it appears, differently; he’d replace George Russell at Williams from the onset of 22 and hasn’t looked back ever since.
50 of his 88 Grand Prix races so far have come with the iconic Constructor, now also his long term future.
Notably, even as his F1 return in 2022 with Williams was far from impressive, the driver scoring a lowly 19th on the driver standings with just 4 points to his name, he didn’t let the hugely disappointing FW44 damage his confidence.
The Albon we saw last year was a driver determined to extract something meaningful for himself and for the stable, often driving the wheels off of the FW 45, the slightly improved successor of 2022’s sickeningly slow car.
While most of us- and we be even doubted- were extremely caught up in following the close battles between the Red Bulls and the Ferraris at Monza, Las Vegas and other venues, Alex Albon was quietly improving his grid results and track performances.
Lest it is forgotten and probably it already is, he began the 2023 F1 season with a fighting tenth at Bahrain, scoring a solitary point. Not only did he outperform his teammate Sargeant at the American’s home race at COTA (Texas), impressive drives at Canada and Italy, both of which yielded a P7 in the end showed us a driver who had the appetite to fight. As a matter of fact, so impressive was his effort at Montreal last year where he kept much faster cars than his Williams behind his tail that he would end up winning the “Driver of the day” award at the Canadian race.
In the previous season, he was involved in close tussles with the triumvirate of Ricciardo, Bottas and Hulkenberg proving to the rest that Williams could be put to test and it would still not buckle down under pressure.
In many ways, the new contract extension is a result of Alex Albon being who he actually is: focused, sans-controversy and quietly hardworking.
He’s a driver who’s best days, we all hope, remain in the future.