Alex Albon believes the arrival of Carlos Sainz at Williams will help him to better display his own talent level by removing the burden that came from being the benchmark himself as the team’s experienced driver.
Sainz opted to join Williams for 2025 after Ferrari signed Lewis Hamilton to replace him, the Spaniard making the move off the back of four victories for the Scuderia. Albon has been at Williams since 2022, partnering Nicholas Latifi in his first season and latterly Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto, and the 28-year-old believes Sainz will be the reference point he needs to cement his own reputation.
“I like it — it’s a great challenge,” Albon told RACER. “I think Carlos is coming in with a lot of pedigree. I think he’s had a fantastic season as well against Charles [Leclerc], who we know is an extremely strong driver.
“For myself, it’s great to be able to have someone who I can directly compare against. I feel like it’s always been a bit of a burden to me in some ways because I feel like no one really knows where I stand. I have that confidence in myself that I’m pretty good.”
Albon admits his own experience of the Red Bull setup is likely to be usurped by Sainz’s more recent history at Ferrari, and thinks that will help push Williams as it looks to move forward in 2025 and ’26.
“I’m glad that Carlos is there … just what he brings to Williams is going to be really important to us,” he said. “That experience that he has, the knowledge of being in a top team like Ferrari that is performing well week in, week out.
“When I joined Williams from Red Bull, obviously there was a lot that I needed to give and wanted to give to improve the team. But I’ve now been in the team for three years and as much as I still push and put the team into a direction that I think is needed, having that fresh mindset into it, I think is only going to be helpful.
“For me as well, as a teammate, I think I’m going to be very open-eared — just wanting to hear what he has to say about the car, but also what direction he believes we need to go in.”
