Alexander Albon this year he returned to play a ‘starting’ role in F1, accepting the difficult challenge of replacing George Russell in Williams, who started at the end of last season in the direction of Mercedes. The young Thai driver, although forced to drive the least competitive car on the entire grid, was nevertheless able to collect three points in this first part of the season. His team-mate, Nicholas Latifi, on the other hand, never got out of the way from the starting point. Last season Albon was away from the GPs, racing only in the DTM and working on the simulator for Red Bull. The 26-year-old Londoner had in fact paid dearly for a decidedly disappointing 2020 season lived in the Milton Keynes garage by teammate of Max Verstappen.
His performances did not satisfy the leaders of the Austrian team, who decided to hire the Racing Point veteran Sergio Perez in his place. The Mexican in this year and a half of adventure in Red Bull has shown himself capable of bringing home important points for the cause of the team, helping Verstappen in his duels at the top when necessary. Albon joined the Austrian family’s first team in mid-2019, in what was still his championship since rookie. A sudden choice, taken by Helmut Marko and Christian Horner to shake up the environment after Pierre Gasly’s very difficult start to the season. Ever since the official announcement, there was no lack of perplexity over Albon’s immediate promotion. Today the Thai recognized how he actually was too soon for such a leap.
“I felt ready at the time – explained the current Williams driver to the German site Auto Motor und Sport – but I lacked the experience. If you look at the gap between Max and Pérez, it wasn’t very different from mine. I received a lot of criticism for my performance and the 2021 stop came at the right time. I was able to take a step back and realize how important it is to get the most out of the machine “. Now Albon is the point of reference for Grove’s stable in its slow attempt to get back to the top. Confirmation of this is the renewal of multi-year contract signed by Jost Capito’s team at # 23: “The improvements have brought us closer to the mid-range – concluded Albon, speaking of his season in Williams – but we still have to fight for every point“.
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