Has Alex Albon outgrown Williams? ‘I feel I am deserving of a winning F1 car’

Alex Albon feels that he’s ready to return to fighting at the front of F1 - ideally with Williams.

Given Albon’s impressive form over the last two campaigns, the Thai driver is a key player in this year’s driver market.

Already, Albon has been heavily linked with Ferrari (before Lewis Hamilton’s move), Mercedes and a return to Red Bull.

Williams boss James Vowles has already tried to shrug off the speculation by stating that Albon’s Williams deal runs out at the end of 2025, not 2024, as many have thought.

Albon is keen to get another shot at fighting for regular race wins and podiums, and he is hopeful that is with Williams.

“Where I stand is: I’m very excited to see how this FW46 develops, I want to see how the car feels in Bahrain and the subsequent four, five, six races and really get a feel for the progression that I hope we’ve made as a team,” Albon told select media including Crash.net during Williams’ launch event.

“My whole focus is on Williams and that’s where I see myself. The rate of progression, to me, is also very important, so time will tell.

“I feel like I’m very close to my peak. There’s always improvements to be done and there’s still areas to improve.

“But generally, with my experience now and where I am, I feel like I am deserving of a car that can score podiums and fight for wins. And that’s just being totally honest with how I see myself.

“More than anything, I want that team to be Williams. And that’s where I put all my work and all my efforts into. And outside of that, that’s just really: how does it fall into place?”

With new technical regulations on the horizon in 2026, Albon wants to get his long-term future secure ahead of the rule changes.

“It’s very clear to me, especially when you see the driver market, there’s a huge interest in teams wanting the same driver for ’25 and ’26. That’s how it looks like it’s playing out,” he added. “And let’s see about that.

“Realistically I want to be with the team. If the team is where I want it to be, it will be a long-term contract. We’re gonna go all the way or nothing. That’s my idea with it.”