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Alex Albon has enjoyed some great success with the Williams team, but what does his future look like?
12 races into the 2023 Formula 1 season, the Thai-British driver sits 13th in the championship, having achieved three points finishes so far with Williams Racing.
“It feels like it’s been a great season so far,” Albon told The Race. “Obviously, we’re still only halfway through it. But it just feels like everything’s connecting.
“A year with the team really does help. It feels like you have a much stronger base to build on, a lot more knowledge and experience from the year before so you can already pick up the limitations, the negatives of the car, you already start thinking about them and addressing them on the sim or in FP1 straight away. And at the same time, just having a quicker car just puts everything more in the spotlight.
“I definitely feel like I’ve made a step forward. But also the car has to a point where it just puts us more in the spotlight. When we are there to score points, we’re scoring points and that obviously attracts much more attention.
“Things are going very well. That being said, in my eyes, there’s still more to come.”
Moving on?
Success at Williams is different than success at Red Bull or Ferrari or Mercedes. In his time at Red Bull, Albon achieved 11 top-five finishes and two podiums. At Williams, he’s scored 15 points in one and a half (ish) seasons. But his performance at Williams has been praised more than his performance at Red Bull.
“I’m not young,” Albon said. “I’m actually 27. Which sounds young! In an F1 context it’s not that young. It’s actually near to my peak.
“I would say there’s a good balance between you driving at your best and the experience and the knowledge you have. You’ve got to weigh that [thought] up with how I’m fully invested in this team in terms of bringing this team up forwards.
“It is a longer-term contract. So as long as the progress is there, then this is going to be a long-term thing.
“But at the same time, you have to also realise, I do feel like I’m driving at my best, I do think I have more to give. I still want to score podiums, I still want to win races.
“My focus is on making sure Williams is that team. But beyond that, if for whatever reason it does become difficult, you do naturally have to look elsewhere.
“Of course, the focus is on the team and let’s see what happens in a few years’ time.”
With Albon performing admirably at Williams, Albon has been linked with rumours (mostly unfounded in fairness) to multiple top-tier Formula 1 teams. What could his future look like, if he moves on from Williams in the next season or two? Only time will tell.
Feature Image Credit: Qian Jun – Getty Images