Alex Albon will not be leaving Williams anytime soon.
Williams announced on Wednesday that Albon had signed a contract extension with the team. Albon’s previous contract expired after the 2025 season and he was viewed as a candidate to change teams either this offseason or next offseason.
“I am incredibly happy to remain at Williams Racing and continue working with such a talented and dedicated team of people,” Albon said in a team statement.
“It has been a difficult start to the year, but since joining Williams we have made significant progress together and I have seen the big changes that have taken place behind the scenes to take us back to the front of the grid. “This is a long-term project that I really believe in and in which I want to play a key role, which is why I have signed a multi-year contract.”
Albon, 28, is one of five drivers who have not scored points in the first six races of 2024 and Williams is one of two teams, along with Sauber, that has no points in the constructors’ standings this season. So far this can be attributed to the car’s lack of speed. Albon is qualifying worse and finishing worse than a season ago. In 2023, Albon had an average start and finish of 12.4 a season ago and scored 27 points.
Despite a lack of points this season, he has been consistently faster than teammate Logan Sargeant. Sargeant’s contract expires at the end of the season and it’s hard to see him returning to Williams in 2025 to team up with Albon for a third straight season. Sargeant crashed out of the Miami Grand Prix after contact with Kevin Magnussen.
The highlight (or lowlight, to be more precise) of the season for Williams so far has come in Australia. Albon crashed during the first free practice session in Melbourne and severely damaged the chassis of his car. Williams did not have a spare chassis available for the weekend, so decided to give Sargeant’s car to Albon for the race, as Sargeant did not start the event.
The impeller market by 2025
With Albon remaining at Williams for the foreseeable future, there are still many things to be determined regarding the 2025 Formula 1 field.
Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren appear to be the only teams that can say with certainty who their drivers will be next season. Lewis Hamilton will move from Mercedes to Ferrari to team up with Charles Leclerc, while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will team up for the third consecutive season at McLaren. Fernando Alonso recently reappeared at Aston Martin and, although his teammate Lance Stroll has struggled this season, it is difficult to see him leave before the 2025 season, as his father Lawrence owns the team.
Mercedes needs to fill Hamilton’s seat, Red Bull has to decide Sergio Perez’s future and Carlos Sainz’s future is still undetermined after he was replaced by Hamilton at Ferrari. It is possible that Albon was a player in the 2025 driver market without a contract after having passed his Williams team. But any team eyeing him for a potential vacancy will now have to cross him off their list.