Alexander Albon got a new teammate this season starting in Monza: The Williams driver admits that he “definitely underestimated” Franco Colapinto
With Franco Colapinto, Williams regular Alexander Albon got a new teammate at his side before the Italian GP in Monza. While he had Logan Sargeant under control before, he had to work hard against the Argentinean! “When he joined us, I definitely underestimated how fast he would be,” Albon admits.
“I think we’ll see him in F1 one day,” says the British-born driver. “He’s a fantastic driver. I think he’s proven his worth in F1 and is very talented.” As things stand, however, Colapinto will not get a cockpit for the 2025 Formula 1 season, at least.
Could it be because the 21-year-old wrecked his car too many times in the first nine races of his Formula 1 career? “I hope not. I don’t think he deserves it,” says Albon, who also believes that the accidents probably go “hand in hand with the performance of the car”.
After all, the former Red Bull driver also “did not have a fantastic end to the season” with the accidents in Mexico and Brazil. Since the race in Baku, the British-born driver has also not scored any more championship points. “I don’t always just blame myself. I think the team knows how good he is.”
“Focusing on next year early”
In general, the 2024 season was not an easy one for Williams. “I generally feel like I missed a small opportunity,” Albon sums up, especially considering that Williams had to deal with an overweight car at the start of the season.
“We should have scored points at the beginning of the year, many more points,” the 28-year-old says angrily. But then ‘a good upgrade’ came and ‘we had a respectable middle of the season. And the plan was always to focus on the future and on next year early.’
That’s why Williams was “passed by a lot of teams” in the second half of the season, Albon says. “So if we had started a little bit stronger [into the season] and had a slightly better beginning, like Aston [Martin], and had faded at the end, we would still have had a solid season, but we didn’t.”
“At the end of the day, I’m not too disappointed,” admits the Williams driver, adding that he came to the 2022 season with a long-term perspective and only extended his contract this year up to and including 2026. ‘I’m not here for short-term success. So I’m happy with that.’
Taking steps back to make progress
While it is difficult for the observer to see the progress, Albon is convinced “that you can see it. I think the setbacks we’ve had this year are pretty obvious,” the Williams driver recalls the numerous accidents in the last races of the season.
“We have been very open about it, and I think James [Vowles, team principal] is very honest when it comes to where we are,” said Albon. ”He shows us the direction and the steps backwards that we have to take in some places to improve for the future.”
The Williams driver appreciates the open communication with the team boss. “Maybe it takes a little longer than we wanted, but I’m glad we have the ambition to not just fight in the front midfield. We want more than that, and that’s why we keep making sacrifices and compromises just to get the progress.”
