Williams
F1 News
Albon predicts historic F1 season with 'closest field ever' in the sport!
- Ludo van Denderen
In a freezing cold pit box, Alexander Albon made sure to have his ears under his hat. After Carlos Sainz drove the FW47 first, Albon had a shot at trying out their car later today. The Thai-British driver believes Williams could take a step forward this year with their latest challenger.
Could the team challenge the top teams? Of course, Williams secretly hope so, though more realistically the British team is competing in the middle of the pack. Asked by GPblog about his expectations for next season, Albon at least says: "I am interested to start. I think that is going to be really tight. That's all I can really say for the moment."
"I think Abu Dhabi, the last race was a good reflection of the grid closing up, and there was a few teams like Alpine and Sauber that brought updates. I think it will be the tightest grid in Formula One history, I imagine, this year. So that will be exciting."
Williams look ahead to 2026
At the front of the pack, an exciting year is also expected, with Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes again vying for wins. Albon does not name Williams as a team that are part of that group just yet. "I think up at the front, I don't think we'll quite be there. I feel like with how McLaren ended their year, it's going to be a really interesting year ahead," says Albon.
The Thai says he hopes Williams will be able to take a step forward in the last year before the regulation change that takes place ahead of the 2026 season. "I'd like to be fighting up at the top half of that midfield fight. We'll see how big of a midfield fight there is this year. I think it's going to be closer even to the top teams, I'm hoping.΅
What does Albon wish for to have this season? "It's not so much result-based as you would expect. I think that last year, if you just look at where we were in terms of timing and being late and being overweight, these kinds of areas were fundamental to be fixed for this year, and I feel like we've already started in a much better position. There's loads of other examples, but they're the kind of things that I want to see improved for this year, because I think it's what's going to create the foundation for a better 2026."
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sárközi
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!