Alex Albon has been proving doubters and Red Bull wrong from the outset of his second go-around in F1, when he signed to Williams in 2022.
And that statement is all the more true in 2025, with Williams continuing to take steps forward under James Vowles and Albon already doubling his career-high in points with the team with 10 races still to come.
Alex Albon's stats
Standings Position: 8th
Points: 54
Best Finish: 5th (3 times)
Best Qualifying Position: 5th
Head-to-head race finishes (vs. Sainz): 9-4
Head-to-head qualifying: 8-6
Head-to-head points: 5
Albon continues to do superhuman things in the Williams
2025 brought a very different feel for Williams. After a few seasons where it was Albon and a much weaker second teammate, the team brought on race-winner Carlos Sainz.
Regardless of Sainz's performance this season, the Albon-Sainz pairing represents a much more serious future ahead for Williams. And their leader going into a new set of regulations in 2026 is clear as day.
First, we have to laud Albon's qualifying pace. Despite the fact we've definitely seen some dips in performance from the Williams car at times, Albon is consistently phenomenal.
Albon is 10-for-17 in Q3 appearances (including sprint qualifying sessions), with five grid slots of P7 or better. Hungary brought Albon's only grand prix Q1 exit of the season, meanwhile Sainz has gone out in Q1 in four of his last six tries.
His superior pace has translated to positions to post 54 points. Despite putting the Williams in places you wouldn't expect it in qualifying ahead of much better cars, Albon has only lost positions from his grid slot one time this season, and that was the one spot when he started P5 in Belgium.
Albon went 6th to 5th in Austrlia, 10th to 7th in China and 7th to 5th in back-to-back weeks at Imola and Miami. This is a string of results that wipe away his struggles at Red Bull years ago, and excite you for what he could do if Williams becomes a title contender someday.
Albon wipes away rough midseason stretch
In races that Albon has finished, he has only been outside the points two times (Hungary: P15, Bahrain: P12). But Albon's roughest moments in 2025 came at Spain, Canada and Austria.
Albon dealt with two rounds of contact in Spain that led to a retirement. Then it was a power unit retirement in Montreal (although he nearly crashed out of the race on lap 1). Finally, it was a double DNF in Austria for Williams, with another technical issue for both cars. Albon was P6 at the time of his exit.
Although only one of the three DNFs were due to pure driver error, it's the type of stretch that could derail a season get you thinking of what could have been (especially as Williams tries to maintain 5th in the constructors' title). But Albon came back to go from 13th to 8th at a wet British Grand Prix, and added another monster effort to go P6 in Belgium.
Williams, once comfortably in P5 for the teams' championship, now only holds an 18-point lead over a hard-charging Aston Martin. While Sainz needs to pull his weight, it'll be on Albon primarily to deliver those millions in prize money to the once-iconic Williams team.
And maybe they can be iconic again with Albon at the helm.