Alexander Albon has praise for Carlos Sainz and expands on how his arrival at Williams F1 Team, changed the outlook of the team and his own approach.
As the pair enter their second year, Williams’ Albon has huge praise for what Sainz has done for the British F1 team and even the Thai driver in one season. The Spaniard arrived at the Grove-based team with huge set of experience from his recent victories at Ferrari.
It was immediate impact as Williams looked visibly a different team all-together. Luck didn’t favour Sainz in the first half, but it didn’t stop him from experiments. His focus was changing the car’s philosophy to be an all-rounder and not some track bunny to score handful of points.
And it worked to a certain extent. It was a boon for Williams and also Albon to have someone like Sainz, who used his experience to the full and it was evident as the Thai highlighted. He saw a different approach in meetings and how to go about things, which happened via the Spaniard’s experience.
In an honest admission to go with it, Albon agreed that Williams got a bit of preferential treatment from Williams in the years gone by, when he had rookie teammates alongside him and it changed in 2025. “Definitely, different in terms of a culture and mindset,” he said to media.
“I would say that, being totally honest, just as an approach between the two cars, we’re much more equal in the way that the teams treat us. I could definitely say I had the majority of the preference for treatment in previous years, in terms of us two working together, more backwards and forwards in terms of feedback ping-pong, where we’re just having the same opinions about the car.
“We speak in a very similar language, I think. Carlos is more experienced than I am, but in terms of our age and our approach, we handle things in a very similar way. In terms of pushing me, yes, it’s great to have someone. It’s a different data set to have a look at, different driving style to me. We want similar things in the car, but we actually normally arrive to qualifying with a very similar setup.
“I feel like every driver would say this, when you have a teammate who’s a step up, you learn more. There’s more to learn in terms of your driving style. There are some corners that you were previously quick at, which you’re now the same as. And there are some corners that you need to learn, adapt, drive differently. And I’m sure it goes the other way for Carlos too.
“It’s been good to see. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from Carlos is more the non-driving side of things, the way that we conduct meetings and develop the car in the simulator, and go around our free practice programs, things like that. You can see the experience with Carlos in that way,” summed up Albon, in a big praise for the Spaniard’s work, which will be crucial in building F1 2026 season.
Here’s teams’ tier system
Here’s drivers’ tier system
Here’s Carlos Sainz on what he has managed to do with Williams
Here’s Alexander Albon on work done by James Vowles
