Photo: Williams F1 Team / Twitter
Word has it that George Russell pushed hard to convince Williams team boss Jost Capito to sign Alex Albon as the his replacement for this year, following Russell’s departure for Mercedes-AMG.
After racing for both Toro Rosso and Red Bull, Albon found himself on the outside looking in. Red Bull eventually decided to give up on him in favor of Sergio Perez, which in turn forced Albon into a reserve driver role for his old team, as well as AlphaTauri.
This year, Albon has already scored points for Williams as Russell’s replacement, earning him praise from the latter.
“I think Alex has done an exceptional job,” said the Mercedes-AMG driver.
“Alex was a few years older than us, so he was sort of competing against [Nyck] De Vries at the time in KF1 [the top level of karting] I remember. And he’s always been there, he’s always been one of the very best. So, it’s no surprise to me and [I’m] happy to see that he's back in Formula 1 and, I think, [he] has cemented his position.”
When asked to compare Albon with Russell, the former’s teammate, Nicholas Latifi, had nothing but praise-worthy things to say too.
“Similarities? I mean, it goes without saying they’re both extremely quick drivers and I mean, especially when Alex was announced as the race driver who was going to be my teammate, I had no illusions that he was not going to be on the pace straight away, despite him missing out a year.”
Latifi went on to say that Albon and Russell’s driving styles are different and that he’s not going to share any of their driving secrets, which we totally understand.
Williams is currently 10th (last) in the 2022 Constructors standings, with Albon having secured three points for the team (Latifi has yet to score any points). Those three points put Williams just four points shy of Aston Martin for the ninth spot.
This year, Albon has already scored points for Williams as Russell’s replacement, earning him praise from the latter.
“I think Alex has done an exceptional job,” said the Mercedes-AMG driver.
“Alex was a few years older than us, so he was sort of competing against [Nyck] De Vries at the time in KF1 [the top level of karting] I remember. And he’s always been there, he’s always been one of the very best. So, it’s no surprise to me and [I’m] happy to see that he's back in Formula 1 and, I think, [he] has cemented his position.”
When asked to compare Albon with Russell, the former’s teammate, Nicholas Latifi, had nothing but praise-worthy things to say too.
“Similarities? I mean, it goes without saying they’re both extremely quick drivers and I mean, especially when Alex was announced as the race driver who was going to be my teammate, I had no illusions that he was not going to be on the pace straight away, despite him missing out a year.”
Latifi went on to say that Albon and Russell’s driving styles are different and that he’s not going to share any of their driving secrets, which we totally understand.
Williams is currently 10th (last) in the 2022 Constructors standings, with Albon having secured three points for the team (Latifi has yet to score any points). Those three points put Williams just four points shy of Aston Martin for the ninth spot.
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