Alexander Albon, F1 driver

The Thai driver and team-mate Logan Sargeant have faced a challenging start to the season with Williams having been without a spare chassis and not being flush with replacement parts.With Sargeant having been forced to sit out the Australian Grand Prix because of the need for his team-mate to take his car, and the American crashing in opening practice in Japan, things were not helped much in the ...

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The chassis suffered damage to the front-right when Albon speared under the tyre wall after making contact with the RB of Daniel Ricciardo.The team, which will be without a spare until the Miami GP, remains confident that it can be repaired successfully and shipped to Shanghai for the Chinese GP.It was the third major accident suffered by the team in two weekends. In Australia, Albon crashed in ...

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On the opening lap, Albon was hit by RB's poor-starting Daniel Ricciardo in Turn 3, at the start of the Esses.The glancing blow sent both cars into the tyre barriers, which had to be repaired during the following 30-minute red flag interruption.While the accident happened at relatively low speeds, another crash was the last thing Williams needed.The team still has no spare chassis available, which ...

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The eight-time grand prix winner had been expected to lead the RB charge having returned to F1 midway through last season, but instead he has endured a difficult season and been outperformed by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.Matters were compounded when he clashed with Albon at Turn 3 on the opening lap of the Suzuka race which sent both drivers into the barriers.After giving his take on the clash ...

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Last year’s Williams FW45 was noted for its top speed, which allowed it to shine on certain tracks and propel Albon into the points.But for 2024, the Grove outfit has tried to develop a car that is more consistently competitive at a range of circuits.That in turn has seen the car lose the straightline advantage that it has previously enjoyed, with Albon noting in Jeddah that he now had to do his ...

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The Melbourne race turned out to a huge chance for F1's bottom five teams, who would normally be finishing 11th at best on pace.Between the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia only Haas had managed to score a single point in Jeddah.But after the retirements for Red Bull's Max Verstappen and both Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, suddenly three points-scoring positions opened ...

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Albon's own car was badly damaged in a crash in opening practice on Friday, and he didn't take part in FP2.With no spare chassis on hand, team principal James Vowles made the call for Albon to take over the sole remaining healthy chassis for Saturday, meaning American Sargeant would miss the remainder of the weekend. Albon was an impressive seventh in Q1 and then secured 12th in Q2, a place ...

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The team does not currently have a spare chassis, so following the Thai driver’s huge crash in FP1 in Australia on Friday the decision was taken to switch him to Logan Sargeant’s car, leaving the American on the sidelines.Team principal James Vowles has confirmed that the third chassis is still so far behind schedule that rather than fast track its completion the team will instead repair the ...

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With Albon’s original car being damaged beyond repair following a crash in opening practice at Albert Park, and Williams having no spare chassis on hand, the team had to withdraw one of its entries.But rather than it leaving Albon on the sidelines, it took the controversial choice to give him Sargeant’s car instead – forcing the American out for the remainder of the weekend.Read ...

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Albon suffered a big accident during Friday morning's first free practice session, which prompted a chassis change for the Anglo-Thai driver.Because Williams didn't have a spare chassis at its disposal, the Grove team has decided to let Albon use team-mate Sargeant's car, meaning the American will sit out the rest of the Melbourne weekend."While Logan should not have to suffer from a mistake that ...

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Williams does not have a spare chassis on site but team principal James Vowles has confirmed that the option exists to switch Albon to Logan Sargeant’s car on Saturday, leaving the American on the sidelines.Albon had a huge accident in FP1 in Albert Park, hitting a concrete wall with the right hand side of the car at high-speed before spearing across the track and striking the wall on the other ...

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Fernando Alonso led the pack out of the pits with a large aerodynamic-load measuring device fitted to the front of his Aston Martin and its new front wing, but it was George Russell who initially set the first-place benchmark at 1m30.214s.This was, however, almost 10s off the pace and Russell was quickly shuffled back during the early running – where both Mercedes drivers complained about long ...

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Albon’s Bahrain GP was compromised by overheating issues on his way to an unrepresentative 15th, while in Saudi Arabia he just missed out on the points by finishing 11th.Despite being beaten in Jeddah only by the nine surviving cars from the top five teams – plus the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, the Thai/British driver still feels that Williams has not yet shown what it can do.“Very simply ...

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Magnussen received a first 10-second penalty after contact with Albon following the safety car resumptions.With the Dane’s own race effectively ruined he then passed Yuki Tsunoda by going off track.He subsequently slowed down the following group – including Albon – in order to create a pitstop window for Haas team-mate Nico Hulkenberg up ahead.The strategy worked, as Hulkenberg was ...

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Last year's FW45, which Albon guided to eight points finishes as the team climbed from last to seventh in the constructors’ championship, proved particularly weak through low-speed changes of direction, under braking and through longer-duration fast corners.But speaking on the second day of pre-season running in Bahrain, Albon reckoned Williams had worked to rectify many of the significant ...

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The reigning F1 world champion officially debuted the new-look Red Bull RB20, with its Mercedes-style sidepods, and he didn't take long to return to his familiar top spot on the timesheet.Ferrari's Charles Leclerc put in a 1m33.685s as an early representative benchmark, but midway through the morning session Verstappen surged to the top on C3 compound tyres, with a 1m32.548s ending up his best ...

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Albon and Williams excelled in 2023 on circuits that suited the low-drag FW45, which competed towards the front of the midfield on low-downforce circuits like Monza and Montreal, but had too many weaknesses to be an all-round contender throughout the season.Williams' biggest priority for the FW46 was to cure some of its foul handling characteristics and turn it into a consistent points score at a ...

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Albon has been the subject of intense speculation over his future in recent weeks, with reports linking him to Red Bull as Sergio Perez's replacement, as well as the vacant Mercedes seat in the wake of Lewis Hamilton's shock Ferrari move for 2025.While speculative reports Red Bull has offered Albon a multi-year contract from 2025 are believed to be inaccurate, Motorsport.com has learned that ...

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Albon has been linked to various top teams in recent weeks, including a return to Red Bull and a move to Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton from 2025 onwards.While Williams team principal James Vowles clarified Albon is contracted to the Grove team until next year, he also added he would keep the outfit's long-term interests at heart if any offer came in for the 27-year-old."Should any decision go ...

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Following his impressive performances with Williams, Albon had been linked to a Red Bull return in 2025, which still has a vacancy for Sergio Perez's current seat alongside world champion Max Verstappen.With uncertainty over Albon's contract situation, which was believed to make him a free agent at the end of 2024, Lewis Hamilton's shock move to Ferrari also brought the 27-year-old into the frame ...

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Williams struggled at the start of the year with an FW45 that was still lacking downforce compared to most of its rivals, while also being hard to balance across various circuit layouts and conditions.But led by Albon, the team scored big on those few tracks that suited its car well, including the Anglo-Thai driver's seventh-place finishes in Canada and Monza, to get ahead of fellow strugglers ...

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In a ringing endorsement of the Thai driver who almost single-handedly helped Williams secure seventh in the constructors’ championship last season, Vowles has opened up on the differences he saw in Albon throughout 2023. And he thinks the way Albon approached the job, with a car that wasn’t consistent in its performance at all tracks, was evidence of the supreme qualities that he thinks will ...

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Albon logged all but one of the team's 28 points, making the top 10 seven times in grands prix, and also scoring in a sprint race.He started in the top six at Zandvoort, Monza and Las Vegas, and his only real mistake came when he spun off in Australia, although first-lap incidents in Japan and Brazil were also costly.He frequently took advantage of the car's good straightline speed to successfully ...

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The Grove-based outfit is heading into the F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi seven points ahead of AlphaTauri in the fight for seventh place in the constructors' contest. But with AlphaTauri having made impressive gains with its car since a major upgrade arrived at the Singapore Grand Prix, the buffer offers no guarantee to Williams that it can hold on. The battle is a significant one because the F1 ...

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Ahead of the event Albon was hopeful that the long straights and low ambient temperatures would favour the FW45 relative to Williams' rivals.  From the start of track action he figured at the sharp end, taking sixth in FP3 despite contact with the wall that led to a red flag and a premature end for the session.After that Albon admitted he took time to build up his confidence and get back up to ...

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