Alex Albon shares his outlook after a dominating start against Carlos Sainz in the Williams intra-team battle

Alex Albon has scoffed at suggestions that his run in 2025, where he's dominating Carlos Sainz, is something of a validation for him. When the Spaniard was announced as a Williams driver, there were expectations that he would come to the team, make it his own, and slowly take over as the leader.

In the first 14 races, that has seemingly not happened, as Alex Albon has put together a brilliant season with Williams. The Thai driver has been a part of the team since 2022.

From that point onwards, as soon as George Russell left, there was a spot available for a driver to take over the leadership role. Albon has done so brilliantly as a teammate of Nicholas Latifi, Logan Sargeant, and Franco Colapinto.

However, when it was announced that Carlos Sainz was coming to Williams, early suggestions were more in favor of the Spaniard. His run at Ferrari, where he had his moments, further cemented his case.

After the first 14 races, Alex Albon has 56 points while Carlos Sainz has 14. Looking at the points tally, the Thai driver was questioned if he felt validated by his results, to which he told PlanetF1,

“It’s maybe more validation to you [the media] than to me. I feel like I’ve always had quite a strong time at Williams. I feel like I got comfortable pretty quickly. I learned a lot from my time at Red Bull, and then I could just gain experience. And I got stronger and stronger every year."

He added,

“So this year looks like a standout year, but I think the team’s done a fantastic job to give me the car to be able to deliver the results. And it seems to keep going."

Alex Albon talks about how the predictable nature of the car helped in improving confidence

The 2024 F1 season was strange in one way for Williams in that the drivers were having just too many crashes. Alex Albon is not the kind of driver who crashes often, yet he has had a few in 2024. This season, those crashes have vanished. Talking about the current car and how the lack of snaps means it crashes less and gives more confidence, he said,

“At the moment, it feels like we’ve just had a good run of it. I’m comfortable in the car, and I feel like the car is way more predictable to drive. It’s easier to drive on the limit. We’re not getting these snaps and things, which I think last year you could see sometimes would put us in the wall and things like that. It builds confidence."

Alex Albon would be hoping to build on his strong form as the driver is slowly getting improved results as the team is improving with him.