Alex Albon lost his seat at Red Bull at the end of the 2020 season and, instead of falling to sister team AlphaTauri, as Pierre Gasly did, the Thai driver spent a year away from the top-flight circuits, racing in the DTM and as a reserve driver for the Austrian team.
This year, Albon has returned to the F1 grid with the Williams team, who trusted him to replace the important figure of George Russell, who finally took his long-awaited step forward in the direction of Mercedes.
During the first of two Formula 1 pre-season tests in Barcelona, Albon caught up as he got used to the Williams FW44, acknowledging that the team “has a good foundation” for the rest of the season.
Referring to Albon ‘s first few weeks working 100% with the Grove team, Jost Capito said he was delighted with the 25-year-old’s integration.
“I’m very impressed, it’s very good in terms of the information it gives about the car,” Capito said.
“He is quite calm. He has a very good feeling when he is on top of the car. He worked well with the engineers and with the team in general.”
“I think he has the right balance when he’s in the car. He’s constantly pushing and he’s a fighter. I expected him to be a really good addition to the whole team in general, but he has exceeded expectations.”
Alex Albon, Williams Racing
For his part, Albon said he was enjoying building new relationships with his now-team-mates and said Williams had the “recipe for a great future”.
“There is great enthusiasm in the team, I like it a lot. Obviously we have had a short relationship so far, but the guys are great and very motivated with the sole objective of doing well, which is very important.”
“They had a great year last season and the hope/goal is to keep that momentum going.”
“We have had a new investment from Dorilton , who are also very motivated, they are a group of people with a very positive atmosphere and all together it is a great combination.”
“I feel like we have the perfect recipe for a great year and a very good future for Williams. I’m excited to see what’s to come,” concluded the Thai driver.
