Albon opens up on ‘very different’ experiences alongside Verstappen and Sainz

Alex Albon admits he “never really got on top of” his situation at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen.

But, now alongside Carlos Sainz at Williams, Albon – after his impressive career resurgence – feels he has the “mental space” and “knowledge” to control his narrative.

Albon compares life alongside Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Back in 2019, Albon was promoted to the senior Red Bull team after just half a season in Formula 1 with junior squad Toro Rosso. He replaced fellow Red Bull academy product Pierre Gasly, and also found life tough against Red Bull’s rising phenomenon Max Verstappen.

Dropped to Red Bull reserve driver at the end of 2020, Albon returned to the grid a year later with Williams and has excelled ever since. He sits eighth in the F1 2025 Drivers’ Championship standings, 38 points ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, the four-time grand prix winner who arrived at Williams to much fanfare this season.

Albon was asked by RacingNews365 to compare his learnings from Verstappen to Sainz now, and admitted: “It’s different. “It’s very different.”

A lot of that comes down to how Albon feels he has managed those respective challenges.

“So when I was with Max, I was so consumed in just myself trying to improve,” Albon continued, “and a lot of that was kind of just digging myself into data and understanding, ‘Okay, why… How can Max do this?’ And ‘How do I drive around these issues, and how does he feel there?’

“But I was inexperienced, so I didn’t really know the right questions to ask in many ways, and I never really got on top of it.

“I talk a lot about my year out, which kind of allowed me a bit more time to get on top of it before I got back in, and then with Carlos, it’s more: I do have the bandwidth, I do have the mental space, and I do have the knowledge to understand.”

The latest F1 2025 head-to-head standings

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Williams sits an impressive fifth in the Constructors’ Championship on 70 points, 54 of those provided by Albon. But, the competition is starting to close in, Aston Martin and Sauber having made progress.

Back at the British Grand Prix, Albon had said upgrades were needed if Williams wanted to see off the threats.

“I see Sauber, I see Haas, they’re only getting quicker and quicker,” Albon told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “They put upgrades on their car.

“We’re now falling behind. At least these last couple of weekends, we haven’t been the fifth-quickest team. We’re definitely further down than that.

“We’re due an upgrade. We want one sooner rather than later. Hopefully when it does [arrive], we can get back to where we were.”

An upgrade package duly arrived at Spa – the round following Silverstone – focusing on the floor, sidepod inlet and engine cover.

Williams boss James Vowles has admitted that he’s happy to sacrifice fifth in the standings for F1 2026 gains. Next season, a major overhaul to the chassis and power unit regulations presents opportunity.

“Everything is switched off, it’s already done, it’s decided, and that was done in agreement with the shareholders,” Vowles told media, including PlanetF1.com, in regards to further development of its 2025 car, the FW47.

“I really enjoy the fact we’re fifth this year, I think it’s a fantastic element for ourselves, our partners, for anyone associated with us, but the goal of this team is to win World Championships, and you’re simply not going to do that by continuing to fight for a position or two in a Constructors’ Championship.

“So that decision was taken in January, and the pathway we’re on is actually this update we did, the element, it wasn’t even guaranteed we would update. There were a few bits that we did with the tunnel across January, February, and March. That’s it.

“We’re not doing anything more. I won’t do anything more. If that results in us being sixth in the championship, so be it.”

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