Albon has scored 3 points thus far in 2022, finishing P10 in Australia and P8 in Miami.
Alex Albon’s performance in the Williams this season has been commended by George Russell, a former F2 opponent and friend. Albon has scored 3 points thus far in 2022, finishing P10 in Australia and P8 in Miami. He has made a tremendous comeback to form. In 2022, the Thai-British driver returned to the track. Last season, he lost his Red Bull seat to Sergio Perez after a difficult season. Albon recently spoke out about the difficulties he endured after his demotion. Albon has salvaged all he can from the FW44 this season, fighting back against Williams.
“I think Alex has done an exceptional job,” said Russell in Monaco. “There was obviously no secret, he had a tough time at Red Bull, but I think all of us, even probably Max Verstappen, [Albon’s team mate at Red Bull] included, knew how talented Alex was. We’ve all raced each other since 2011. Alex was a few years older than us, so he was sort of competing against [Nyck] De Vries at the time in KF1 [the top level of karting] I remember. And he’s always been there, he’s always been one of the very best. So it’s no surprise to me and [I’m] happy to see that he’s back in Formula 1 and, I think, has cemented his position.”
Nicholas Latifi in the other Williams FW44 has had a tough start to the season, with a highest finish of 14th so far in 2022. When asked to compare Russell and Albon’s approaches, the Canadian was kind in his appreciation of Albon, his former teammate at DAMS in F2 in 2018.
“Similarities? I mean, it goes without saying they’re both extremely quick drivers and I mean, especially when Alex was announced as the race driver who was going to be my team mate, I had no illusions that he was not going to be on the pace straight away, despite him missing out a year,” said Latifi.
“I obviously raced against him in 2018 as his team mate, and I know just how quick he was… There’s obviously some little different driving styles here and there, which I kind of knew going into the season as well, just from again having been team mates with Alex before. I won’t share the driving style secrets because maybe they don’t want to disclose that! But no, it’s been great having them both as team mates.”