“Our relationship is incredible”: Albon – Sainz, mutual seduction at Williams

“The strongest driver duo on the grid.” As the FW47 was presented at Silverstone, James Vowles, the boss of Williams, was not stingy with compliments with his two pilots. Alex Albon begins his fourth season with a team he has been with since 2022. The Thai will have, for the first time since his arrival, a top-level driver facing him. Without wanting to insult them, Nicholas latifi, Logan sargeant and Franco Colapinto either didn't have much in the way of future world champions or still lacked experience, or sometimes both.

Now, Alex Albon will have to face Carlos Sainz, a five-time Grand Prix winner and a much more experienced driver, who clearly beats him in the experience game (206 Grands Prix to 104). If he feels threatened by the arrival of a new co-leader coming off four successful years at Ferrari, Alex Albon has the merit of not letting it show, on the contrary. "I think Carlos is a proven driver who has just finished one of his best years in F1 » explains Albon. “So I’m confident and I’m excited to have a great teammate that I can learn from. Hopefully I can bring something to him as well. And ultimately the team has to move forward for the future. I think we’re going to work really well together. From what we’ve talked about and what we like about the car, it’s pretty similar.”

An agreement in Williams' interest

Carlos Sainz is at least as positive towards his new teammate, with whom he has a “incredible relationship.” “I’ve never seen a guy so genuine, so open and so eager to progress with the team, to listen to me, to tell me what he already knows about the team, about the car, to share with me ‘What do you think about this? What do you think about that?’ I ask him a lot of other questions.”, explains the Madrilenian.

“So far we have had an incredible relationship, very open, and I think we both know that. If we want this team to be competitive again and fight for victory again, we have to go in the same direction. Maybe sacrifice some of our own driver secrets or things that we would keep to ourselves, to maybe this time share them to see if we can progress faster.”

The team spirit advocated by the two men will be necessary for them to try to move up the hierarchy during the new regulations of 2026. From now on, it is " unlikely " to see a Williams on the podium, except in exceptional circumstances, according to the team director James Vowles himself, and 2025 should serve as a transition year. The British, 9th in the standings last season, risk going through another complicated year, but the hope of a return to the top is hoped for as early as 2026. For such a legendary team, which has only won one race in the last twenty years, it would be high time to regain its letters of nobility.

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— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) February 21, 2025