Alex Albon revived his Formula 1 career after joining Williams in the 2022 season, and he has even now been the best driver in the midfield pack during the 2025 campaign.
The 29-year-old signed with Williams to return to the grid in the 2022 F1 season after a year away. Albon was forced to accept just a reserve driver role plus a season in the DTM in 2021 as Red Bull demoted the London-born Thai to sign Sergio Perez, having struggled at the top.
While Albon only scored 105 points to Max Verstappen’s 214 while teammates at Red Bull in 2021, he has been the figurehead of Williams’ resurgence in recent years. Albon scored four of Williams’ eight points in 2022, 27/28 in 2023, 12/17 in 2024 and has 54/70 so far in 2025.
Albon’s efforts alongside Carlos Sainz at Williams to date this year place him eighth in the F1 drivers’ standings – behind only the McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari drivers plus Verstappen. Williams also sit fifth in the constructors’ standings with an 18-point lead over Aston Martin.
Photo by Luca Barsali/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesAlex Albon heard Williams’ staff ‘talking badly about themselves’ after he joined the team
Albon has also seen a lot of change at Williams’ Grove factory since he joined back in 2022, including James Vowles replacing Jost Capito as their F1 team principal in 2023. Vowles has changed a lot of the infrastructure at Williams to improve their operations and production.
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Position Constructors’ Standings PointsPts 1 559 2 260 3 236 4 194 5 70 6 52 7 51
There is scope to further enhance their facilities, as Vowles feels Williams’ infrastructure can still hold them back at times. But Albon cannot overlook how Vowles has changed the mood at Grove, having heard worrying signs of self-doubt from Williams’ staff after he first arrived.
“The biggest thing is the culture of the team,” he told RacingNews365. “You walk into Grove, it looks the same, but you go inside and it feels different. So, when I think about the biggest difference, it’s purely when I remember my first time at Williams.
“Going to the factory, no one was very confident. People were talking badly about themselves, which is never a good sign. Possibly a bit stuck in their old ways, and just a bit doom and gloom, really.
“You go into it now, and the first thing I think of, Vowles himself is like this, and it feeds into the team, is that he’s very open and honest. So, you get this feeling, he talks about this a lot, of breaking everything down and seeing how it builds back up.”
Williams could match their best F1 constructors’ championship finish since 2017 in 2025
Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
Vowles instantly set out to change Williams’ mindset upon becoming their team principal in January 2023. His work has often reaped rewards, too, with Williams securing seventh in the 2023 constructors’ standings for their best finish since 2017 after only coming 10th in 2022.
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CategoryAlex AlbonCarlos Sainz2025 points5416Grand Prix results*94Grand Prix qualifying86Grand Prix wins00Grand Prix poles00Grand Prix podiums00Best finish5th8thRetirements32Did not start01Fastest laps00Grand Prix points finishes96Sprint results21Sprint Qualifying21Sprint wins00Sprint poles00Sprint podiums00The 2025 F1 teammate head-to-head battle of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz
*Both drivers did not finish the Austrian Grand Prix
Williams could now match the fifth-place they sealed in 2017 with 83 points during the 2025 season, with Albon largely carrying the Grove crew to fifth in this year’s championship. Sainz has struggled to adapt to Williams’ car so far this season after spending four years at Ferrari.
The best results that Sainz has earned so far in the FW47 remain his P8 finishes in the Saudi Arabian and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix, back in rounds five and seven of the 14 held so far. Albon bagged P5 finishes in the Australian, Miami and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix this year.