Alexander Albon certainly expected a better season than that, in 2024. The Thai hoped to ride on Williams’ good momentum at the end of 2023… but ultimately, the British team scored fewer points than last year and fell in 9th place in the Manufacturers’ championship. A regression which was accompanied by numerous and costly accidents throughout the season – 17 in total – and a change of driver during the year. Due to lack of convincing results, Logan Sargent was fired and replaced by Franco Colapinto before the Italian Grand Prix in August.
The Argentinian quickly caused a sensation by scoring points in his second Grand Prix, when the American had not scored any. Despite express preparation and adaptation, the young rookie was in the time of Alexander Albon, although much more experienced: moreover, in the nine Grands Prix spent together at Williams, Franco Colapinto managed to beat the Thai twice in the qualifying exercise, something that Logan Sargeant has never managed to do since 2023.
Alexander Albon was no longer used to being pushed around like this, he who had only known Nicholas Latifi and Logan Sargeant as teammates at Williams. The man with two podiums in Formula 1 admits to having taken the sudden arrival of Franco Colapinto a little too lightly before raising his level of play at the end of the season. “He’s a fantastic driver. I think he has proven his worth in Formula 1. When he joined the team I certainly underestimated his speed, and I think we will see him in F1 at some point in the future “concedes Alexander Albon, who will be associated with Carlos Sainz in 2025.
For Albon, Colapinto arrived at the right time in 2024
Alexander Albon believes his short-lived teammate did a very good job despite the pressure and lack of preparation when replacing Logan Sargeant. And even if the Argentinian’s end of the season was marked by big accidents which cost Williams dearly, the Thai believes that these errors have not darkened his adventure in Formula 1.
“I think it really goes hand in hand with the performance of the car, it became tricky at the end of the season. It was difficult for me too. I didn’t have a fantastic end to the season and I don’t blame myself all the time, so I think the team knows how good he is, confides the No. 23 on his teammate, who will become a reserve driver for Williams again in 2025. It’s easy to attack too much when [les écarts sont] so tight and there is no margin. We’ve both had tough races, so I don’t blame him too much. Especially in Brazil, it was his first time in the wet, it was not easy on a demanding track. And then, obviously, Las Vegas was very difficult. »
For the Thai driver, Franco Colapinto was started at the right time at Williams, on circuits where the FW46 was competitive and capable of scoring points regularly. “In terms of timing, it was perfect that it arrived when the car was most competitive and perhaps easier to drive than it is now, on tracks that were also very enjoyable to drive, underlines Alexander Albon regarding Franco Colapinto’s thunderous debut at Monza, then in Baku and Austin where he won his first points. To be honest, he did a very good job in Baku and Singapore, which were not easy circuits to drive. And then I think we regressed: [à la mi-saison] we could still enter Q2 with an average lap, whereas later, we had to do an exceptional lap to enter Q2. And that slightly distorts the situation. »
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