How Sainz has helped raise Albon's image

BBC News

3 days ago

British Grand PrixVenue: Silverstone Dates: 4-6 July Race start: 15:00 BST on SundayCoverage: Live commentary of practice and qualifying on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra 2 with race on BBC Radio 5 Live; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app
Alex Albon says he "sees it as a compliment" that his Williams team boss James Vowles believes he has raised his game this year.But Albon himself does not agree. "Maybe it's been a stronger year," he says. "But for the most part I still think I execute my weekends in a similar way."It's definitely not just James. It's up and down the grid in the paddock. It's clear that I've now got a benchmark which a lot of the paddock can reference."The raising of Albon's image is less to do with the British-Thai driver himself than with the identity of his team-mate.Carlos Sainz joined Williams this season from Ferrari. Everyone knows how good Sainz is - he's been team-mates with Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc and been a close match for all of them.Yet with the proviso that Sainz is still adapting to his new surroundings - car and team - Albon has had a decisive advantage over the Spaniard.He leads him by 42-13 in the championship, in which Albon is the leading driver not from a top-four team. And he is 9-4 ahead in qualifying at an average advantage of 0.176 seconds."It highlights the job that I think I'm capable of," Albon says.At the same time, the 29-year-old says: "I would say that my motivation doesn't come from that."I have a quick car now and I go into every race nowadays expecting points. So there's a totally different mind shift."I remember the previous few years, there were maybe six races on the calendar where it was almost like, 'OK, here we go, this is our chance.'"And I don't want to say the other races were throwaways, but the consistency of drive, motivation and expectation this year is at a far higher level because every race is an opportunity."
Why switching cars can be like changing golf clubs
When he joined Williams in 2022 - as a replacement for George Russell when his friend moved to Mercedes - it was something of a lifeline.His had been a circuitous route to F1. A childhood karting rival of Verstappen, Russell and Leclerc, for a long time it looked as if F1 might pass Albon by.He finally made it in 2019, offered a seat by Red Bull in their second team. Within half a season, after a series of strong performances for Toro Rosso, he was promoted to the main team alongside Verstappen.His performances in the second half of 2019 earned a full season in 2020, but like Pierre Gasly before him and everyone since, he struggled to get on terms with the Dutchman and was dropped at the end of the year.After a year on the sidelines as Red Bull's reserve, he won the Williams seat, partly on Russell's recommendation, but until this year he had been teamed only with second-rate drivers. Sainz's arrival is his first opportunity to show what he can do - and he has grabbed it with both hands.But Albon's performances against Sainz raise a thorny question. How does one explain how he can struggle against Verstappen at Red Bull, but now be ahead of Sainz?Albon says: "What it means is that in F1 it is easy for everyone to fall into the trap of: 'All the drivers are at the same level all the time, and there is no such thing as suiting a car or not suiting a car.'"And I think that for the same reason why you're seeing so many drivers struggle up against Max, just flip the script and put Max in a different car, I think he'd still be very quick, don't get me wrong about that. But I don't think you're going to see the same gaps that you see that he's putting on his team-mates now."And for the same reason, some drivers it clicks, some drivers it doesn't."I remember my first lap in a Williams, despite being down on downforce considerably to what I was used to, it still clicks."And don't forget that my six-month stint in Toro Rosso at the time was strong as well. And it just swings."I look at it like golf, even MotoGP is a fantastic example."These drivers, these players, they are always talking about: 'The bike doesn't suit me' or 'these golf clubs don't suit me'. And they're changing clubs, they're changing putters; the bikes, they're changing the feeling of the bike. They're always trying to pursue this confidence in the bike."But then in racing it's almost like we don't regard that and it's just everyone should be able to deal with everything all the time. The best drivers do. But that's where you're seeing differences."
'I'm very not result-based - it's always process, process, process'
Talk of golf brings us to his partner, the Chinese golfer 'Lily' Muni He.Albon says having a professional sportsperson as a girlfriend has an important impact on his racing "in many ways"."We use the same psychologist," Albon says. "We talk about our line of business in a very similar way. We have some very similar habits, in terms of our negatives and strengths within each other."We try to help each other in every way we can. And it's healthy. It's great to talk about what areas you're trying to work on, and we work on it together."We do group calls with our psychologist, and it's positive."If you think of it like this, clearly motorsport is a very mental sport, but I don't think there's a sport out there that's more mental than golf."I think golf psychologists are actually some of the best psychologists in the world, in terms of sports performance, because they've got too much thinking time."And it's an inward game, just like I'm trying to create within my motorsport world. And at the same time, their processes are so important to be on top of.""Process" is a big word for Albon. It's why he's not obsessed about his performances in comparison with Sainz."I always say that I'm very not result-based," he says. "For me it's always process, process, process. And every year I validate myself. I challenge myself on, 'am I preparing and executing my best self? Am I doing everything I can do?'"So that's why when you ask me, 'have I changed much? Is this year a special year? Have you raised the game?' I track myself and everything's about myself. So that in a way is very selfish, but it's my benchmark. I benchmark myself in many ways."I definitely feel like I've been able to execute strong races. I look at it mentally as well. I've been really exploring the mental performance of myself this year. Just, you know, in terms of dealing with (stressful) situations."I think I've been relatively mistake-free this year as well. And so that creates a good feeling, a good confidence within myself."
'Realistic' for Williams to be 'up at the front end' in 2028
The difference this year is that the world has been able to see it, because of his team-mate, and because Williams have moved upwards as a team.Despite a shaky last couple of races, on the basis of both performance and results, Williams are a comfortable fifth in the constructors' championship. The impact of Vowles has been substantial since he took over two and a half years ago, and they seem to be on track with their ambition to get back to the top.But how far along that path does Albon think they are?"We are a very different team to a top team at the moment," he says. "We're still on a journey to get there, and we talk very openly about the journey and our weaknesses as a team."I don't think we are, in all areas, at the maximum of our potential, and that's regarding the car performance. That's everything that goes on behind the scenes, the performance, the engineering."I don't think next year we're going to be in a position to fight for wins, and I think it will be very rare to get a chance at podiums, but that's my mindset, that's our mindset."2027 will be an interesting year, and then realistically, I know this sounds really far away, but 2028 is kind of where I expect us to be, up at the front end. I think that's realistic."