An idea for Red Bull? Why Albon could now succeed alongside Verstappen

13:45, 02 Aug

Updated: 14:01, 02 Aug

byLudo van Denderen

James Vowles believes that Alexander Albon has grown enormously as a driver over the past few years. According to the team principal of Williams, the Thai would be anything but a fool as Max Verstappen's partner, where he struggled to keep up with their earlier, joint time at Red Bull Racing.

There was never any doubt about the speed of Alexander Albon within Williams. But how good the Thai actually is was difficult to determine in previous seasons - his teammate usually wasn't fast enough for that. With Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz, the Thai now has a benchmark; someone he beats regularly.

Williams team principal Vowles praises Albon

"He will go always as quick as he is, but the simple fact behind it is if you put him up against an Max now, he would be a completely different animal," Vowles said in an interview with among others, GPblog.

With Albon, Williams stands fifth in the championship

"And the way I'm perhaps adjudicating him isn't just about how fast he is in the car, because I think he always has been, but actually how resilient he is to everything, things going wrong around you and how strong he is in that circumstance."

"So I think his peak level, has it gone up a lot? Probably not. Is the ability to get there every time there? Yes, that's what I'm seeing," concluded Vowles.