Max Verstappen

F1 team boss praises driver’s rise, backs him to challenge Verstappen differently

09:16, 17 Aug

bySamson Ero

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.

Alexander Albon

Williams team principal Vowles praises Albon

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

"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.

Albon and Verstappen as teammates

Alex Albon and Max Verstappen were teammates between 2019 and the conclusion of the 2020 season. The Thailand-born driver struggled to match the performance of the Dutchman during their stint together.

Albon, who was brought in as a replacement for Pierre Gasly at the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, was later demoted to the role of reserve driver following the 2020 campaign, where he finished P7 in the drivers’ standings. In the same season, Verstappen finished in third place behind Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas