Alex Albon opens up about Williams' spotlight shifting to Carlos Sainz as soon as he was announced as his teammate

Alex Albon has opened up on how the shift of spotlight to Carlos Sainz as soon as he was signed by Williams was something that he felt was inevitable, and it was on him to use that moment positively. The Thai driver has been one of the standouts this season as compared to the expectations at the start of the year, he has stamped his authority within the team.

Last season, as soon as it was announced that Alex Albon was going to be teamed up with Carlos Sainz, the focus shifted entirely on the Spaniard and how he was going to fare at Williams. Sainz had put together a very impressive stint at Ferrari, where there were races where he was quite comfortably better than Charles Leclerc as well.

When it became clear that Sainz was coming to Williams, there were expectations that the Spaniard would take over as the lead at the team. Contrary to expectations, the Carlos Sainz-Alex Albon partnership has gone in the direction of the Thai driver.

At the midway stage of the season, Albon is at 56 points while Sainz is at 14 points. Talking to Motorsport, Alex Albon admitted that he thought that the switch of the spotlight from him at Williams to Carlos Sainz was understandable.

He also felt that there were moments where he felt he wasn't given enough credit for the work he'd done alongside Nicholas Latifi, Logan Sargeant, and Franco Colapinto. Hence, the partnership gave him another opportunity. He said,

"I think it's inevitable. It was a fantastic signing for the team to have someone with Carlos' experience and his speed. And obviously he became an immediate benchmark for me. Then it's up to the driver to kind of go: 'How do I take that energy?' You can take it positively or negatively. I believe I took it positively and I always wanted Carlos to join the team."

He added,

"And on my side, he was a great benchmark, because I sometimes felt almost discredited with the team-mates I had before. I think Logan, Franco and Nicholas have always been strong drivers in moments in their career at Williams, and it was good to kind of have someone like Carlos, who came off a strong year from Ferrari."

Alex Albon looks back at his performances in Carlos Sainz's first season at the team

The 2025 F1 season has been brilliant for the Thai driver, as he's had multiple strong results even in tricky conditions. He's had multiple P5 finishes and is currently 8th in the championship, ahead of every midfield driver. Looking back at the season, he said,

"I can't complain in terms of my own performance. I feel like I've been able to have solid weekends and there's never been a weekend that's gone disastrously. They've always had strong peaks, let's say."

He added,

"I'm quite internal in terms of how I validate my own performances. I feel like I've just been getting on with my own job and executing well. The team has given me a great car, and I've been able to do these P5s and P6s; results that stand out."

The second half of 2025 is going to be interesting for Alex Albon, as now Carlos Sainz has more or less gotten on top of the car. Whether he can continue to maintain this gap is going to be an interesting development.