Williams’ Verstappen claim amidst renewed Albon to Red Bull rumours

Amidst claims that Red Bull’s Thai owners want to bring Alex Albon back into the fold, James Vowles says his driver is up to the task of having Max Verstappen as a team-mate.

But that doesn’t mean Albon is going anywhere.

Alex Albon a ‘completely different animal’ to his Red Bull days

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Albon was parachuted into a Formula 1 race seat in 2019 having been called up by the Formula 1 team as he geared up to race for Nissan e.dams alongside Sébastien Buemi in Formula E.

He contested all of 12 grands prix with Red Bull’s sister team, Toro Rosso, before replacing Pierre Gasly at the senior outfit alongside Verstappen.

But a year and a half later, after two podiums and almost 200 points, Albon was demoted to a test driver role with his Red Bull seat going to Sergio Perez.

His numbers today, lining up against Verstappen’s team-mates, don’t look as concerning as they did back then.

So much so, Albon’s new team boss Vowles reckons the driver could take on Verstappen in a head-to-head battle.

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Declaring that Albon is “absolutely flying everywhere”, the Williams team boss reckons three and a half years on from leaving Red Bull, Albon has the tools to fight Verstappen.

When asked if he underestimated Albon before Sainz’s arrival, Vowles told media including PlanetF1.com: “It’s an interesting talk that I haven’t had with him yet.

“He will always say ‘I’m as quick as he is’.

“The simple fact behind it is, if you put him up against Max today, he would be a completely different animal to what was there before.

“And I think that’s the clear element behind him.

“The way I’m perhaps adjudicating him isn’t just about how fast he is in the car, he always has been.

“But [it’s] actually how resilient he is to everything, things going wrong around him, and how strong he is in that circumstance.

“So I think his peak level has it probably has it gone up a lot? Probably not. Is the ability to get there every time there? Yes, that’s what I’m seeing.”

Albon, who joined Williams in 2022 and has since led the team’s charge, is being linked to a return to Red Bull.

According to Formule1.NL, Thai ownership ‘would love’ to sign Albon and bring him back to Milton Keynes. Chalem Yoovidhya, who owns 49 per cent of the team, has a good relationship with his ‘fellow compatriot’.

Albon, though, has a deal with Williams that reportedly runs through to the end of the F1 2027 season.

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