EXCLUSIVE: Alex Albon doubts Williams “hierarchy” shift following Carlos Sainz arrival

Alex Albon doesn’t think Williams will need to adopt a clear “hierarchy” within the team following Carlos Sainz’s arrival for the 2025 F1 season.

Sainz will switch from Ferrari to Williams for 2025 after he was overlooked by a number of top teams, including Mercedes and Red Bull.

Sainz is widely-regarded as one of F1’s best performers because of how close he has pushed Charles Leclerc during his stint at Maranello since 2021.

He also beat Lando Norris during his two seasons at McLaren, ultimately earning him a spot at Ferrari in place of Sebastian Vettel.

Speaking exclusively to Crash.net at the Dutch Grand Prix, Albon dismissed suggestions that Williams’ new driver line-up would result in a clear “hierarchy” within the team with one driver potentially being favoured.

“I don’t think we can afford to play a hierarchy style,” Albon exclusively told Crash.net. “We’re just here to score points. It’s so tight. I don’t think we’re going to be in the top teams for next year so we just need to make sure we have both cars performing.

“That goes back to my point, we just need to make sure we’re in a good place within the team to be able to have two drivers who are going to be fighting. I believe we’re going to be closely matched.

“He’s a highly-rated driver and it will be great to go up against him. We just need to make sure we’re in a good place within the team to be able to have two drivers that are fighting. I believe we’re going to be closely matched.

“He's a very highly rated driver and it’s going to be great to go up against him. We just need to make sure we have the foundations to be able to support that.”

Sainz’s future continued to be a hot topic in the months prior to the announcement earlier this month.

The 29-year-old was heavily linked with the Audi project as well as Alpine, with links intensifying following the arrival of Flavio Briatore.

Sainz ultimately opted for Williams, arguably giving the Grove outfit their strongest line-up since the early 2000s with Ralf Schumacher and Juan-Pablo Montoya. 

Reflecting on the announcement, Albon conceded it “wasn’t unexpected” before explaining what specifically he’s excited about Sainz’s arrival.

“I know James [Vowles] was very keen on getting Carlos early in the season," Albon said. "I think for the most part, what I find the most exciting is when I think about me coming from Red Bull to Williams there was so much stuff that I learned from Red Bull.

“It fast-tracked a little bit where I could jump into a Williams car and knew straightaway what areas were weak, what areas were strong, what areas I need to focus on and what areas I almost could ignore and allocate my time to other things. 

"I think with Carlos coming in, he’s going to have so much experience especially with this new generation of car to know where the weaknesses are.

“I’ve spent two and a half, almost three years now driving the Williams car in this current generation of car. I have my own ideas of where we’re weak and what not. 

"With Carlos coming in with that experience from Ferrari, it’s going to be very valuable. I am sure when he comes we're going to braindump and ask him everything.”

A point to prove?

Since leaving Red Bull at the end of 2020, Albon has established himself as one of F1’s top performers.

However, arguably, a question mark remains over the size of his improvement since leaving Williams given the identity of his teammates.

Nicholas Latifi struggled considerably with the Williams FW44 in 2022, while Logan Sargeant has struggled.

Albon is relishing the challenge of going up against Sainz - but insisted he’s not interested in “comparisons” with his teammate for next year.

“It’s not my place to draw comparisons around,” he added. “The media do the comparisons. I am concentrating on myself. I enjoy the challenges.

“I think it’s great to have Carlos onboard. I think we’re going to learn a lot from each other. I see it as an exciting thing.”

This weekend at the F1 Italian Grand Prix, Albon will have a new teammate to contend with.

Williams opted to replace under-performing Logan Sargeant with Franco Colapinto, from their driver academy, for the rest of this year.

Colapinto will race in the final nine rounds of the season before Sainz takes over permanently.