‘Boom’… Why Guenther Steiner thinks Alex Albon’s Williams seat is at risk for 2026

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Alex Albon has rebuilt his reputation since he joined Williams at the start of 2022. Albon spent a year on the sidelines following his Red Bull exit and has looked far more assured behind the wheel following his return.

The Thai driver started out in F1 with Toro Rosso in 2019 and earned a promotion to Red Bull after just half a season as Pierre Gasly struggled. But like his predecessor and indeed successor Sergio Perez, he struggled alongside Max Verstappen.

Albon says Red Bull cater to Verstappen’s driving style, which he likened to playing Call of Duty. After a bruising 18 months, he lost his seat to Perez.

At Williams, however, he’s thrived in the role of team leader. He thrashed Nicholas Latifi and then Logan Sargeant, culminating in the American losing his seat at the end of August.

Albon was responsible for 27 of his squad’s 28 points last year and has scored 12 of their 16 this term too. James Vowles rewarded his form with a new contract in May.

His deal wasn’t due to expire until the end of 2025, but he’s now penned an extension. Top F1 teams sniffed around Albon, but decided a move was too risky because his teammates weren’t posing a representative test.

Guenther Steiner says ‘impressive’ Franco Colapinto could take Alex Albon’s drive

In the last three rounds, Albon has raced alongside Franco Colapinto, the Williams academy graduate and Sargeant’s replacement. Colapinto has surprised the paddock by virtually matching his far more experienced partner from the outset.

He finished immediately behind Albon at the Azerbaijan GP, scoring four points on a season-transforming weekend for the team. In Singapore last time out, he was just seven-thousandths of a second slower during qualifying.

Colapinto won’t race for the team next year because they’ve already renewed Albon’s deal and signed Carlos Sainz from Ferrari. But speaking on the Red Flags Podcast, former Haas boss Guenther Steiner suggested he could have a route into a seat for 2026.

If Albon can’t outperform Sainz next year, Steiner says Vowles may be tempted to go with a long-term prospect who’d command a significantly lower wage. Spotrac figures show that Albon earns nearly £2.5m a year at Grove.

“I think Williams is going to look next year when Carlos is driving the other car and then see where Alex is,” Steiner said. “And if they’re both equal, they will be like ‘we have Colapinto, who is 10 (seven) years younger than this guy, costs a lot less money, but he hasn’t got the drive’.

“In the end, it’s a good position to be in. But I’m sure they [will] try to find a place for him or people must be looking at him.

“Because what he has shown, yeah, he had a few little accidents, but he always got out of it, got back on the track, boom, put it there again, put it in the right spot time-wise. And [it’s] quite impressive what he did.”

Top F1 team could pay ‘a load of money’ to sign Franco Colapinto from Williams

Vowles was hopeful of placing Colapinto at Sauber, who have been assessing potential teammates for Nico Hulkenberg. This would have been a loan deal, with the Englishman able to recall his junior driver after a set number of years.

But Sauber are set to re-sign Valtteri Bottas instead, which seemingly condemns Colapinto to a year on the sidelines. If he keeps his current form until the end of 2024, many will deem that unfair.

Vowles has boasted of the strength of his Albon and Sainz combination but that may partly backfire. It could prompt other teams to express interest in his would-be reserve, whose path appears blocked.

Helmut Marko is keen on Colapinto as a potential option for Red Bull junior team RB. They could be willing to pay a ‘load of money’ to secure his services.