Alexander Albon says Williams has to be realistic and work carefully keeping F1 2026 in mind, as he notes own performance to be delivering consistently.
For teams like Williams, the switch off to F1 2026 will be very important. Considering that they have limited resources, the jump has to be carefully implemented. For a large part, the team is already working on next year’s programme sacrificing much of the 2025 season.
Albon agrees that Williams has had a good start to the year, which pushes them to keep the momentum going but they have to realistic and also remind themselves of their goals for 2026. It is all about chipping in and maximising as much they can to remain ahead in the midfield pack.
“I think, honestly, we have to be quite realistic,” said Albon to media. “We don’t know what everyone’s doing in terms of priority for next year. We’ve not gone off to a poor start, which kind of changes the dynamic of how well we want to do this season. For next, or sacrifice next season. I think we’re sticking to our guns and we want to make a big step for next year.
“We don’t know when the next midfield team is going to bring an upgrade, and when they do, that could be our run over. It’s all about maximising every weekend at the minute. I think we may have done the best of the midfield so far this year. But we have had one of the strongest midfields car for sure. I am enjoying it but we just have to be taking advantage of the situation.”
On his own performance, Albon agrees that it could be seen as egotistical, but he feels he has always been consistent performer at Williams. It is just that the results haven’t shown it, and only now it is showing up. He reiterates that it is possible because Williams is in a good position.
“I want to be realistic, I think I’ve always been consistent – if I’m being totally honest and possibly egotistical about it,” said Albon. “I think our car’s always been quite peaky and I’ve always felt that my performances have been consistent since I’ve joined Williams. I think it’s maybe being highlighted now that we have a consistent car every weekend, I can do consistent performances.
“That’s what it feels like to me. That being said, Bahrain qualifying and in Saudi Arabia, we haven’t got it all together, but I think as a package, so far this year, the first five races, we have been the most consistent. I’m very proud of that. What’s interesting to us is if you look at the gaps to P1, and you look at all the midfield teams, we are the most consistent to P1.
“Whereas if you look at midfield, for example, you look at the Alpine in Bahrain, they can be very quick, very up and down. The RBs are a bit like that. We are pretty much, I feel like in most weekends, we are the second quickest midfield team, or joint first, and that’s been the difference,” summed up Albon.
Looking at the numbers since 2022 season, Albon has scored four, 27 and 12 in the three years, and in the ongoing season he has 20 against his name. In the same period, Williams has scored eight, 28 and 17, where the current is 25 after five rounds.
Here’s Carlos Sainz on aiding Alexander Albon
