Stake F1 could end up paying ‘extremely well’ to hire 27-year-old driver for 2025 season

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Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber – which will become Audi in 2026 – could end up making a huge bid to hire Williams driver Alex Albon ahead of the 2025 season.

Despite being one of the slowest cars on the grid, there’s a lot of excitement around Sauber right now given what’s on the horizon for the team.

Speaking on The Race Podcast, journalists Ben Anderson and Edd Straw were discussing the future of the 27-year-old driver.

Sauber have a couple of big decisions to make at the end of the season when it comes to their driver line-up.

Both Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas will be coming to the end of their contracts with the team.

Zhou has failed to impress during his time in Formula 1, although last year’s car didn’t give him much of an opportunity to.

His more experienced Finnish teammate would still be a strong option for several teams on the grid and he’s made his wish to stay with Sauber clear as they become the Audi works team.

However, Stake and Audi will be assessing their options carefully before offering any driver a contract.

It’s been suggested that Stake could end up making a big offer to Alex Albon to bring him in 2025.

The Thai driver could potentially have plenty of options on the table should he leave Williams at the end of the year.

A seat at a works team ahead of their introduction to the grid in 2026 might be very enticing.

Stake could pay ‘extremely well’ to hire Albon for 2025

Speaking about the 27-year-old’s future, Anderson said: “I think they’re [Alex] Albon or bust almost, not quite but I think they will do everything and are doing everything they can to keep Albon.

Straw added: “I think if they were doing everything they could, they would have already got him committed to be honest.

“I’m just not completely convinced, I don’t know I may be wrong.”

Anderson replied: “In that, the team wants to build around him, or that he’s convinced about staying there?”

Straw concluded: “I think the team wants to build around him. He’s a great contender for so many teams.

“Obviously, Williams will be blown out of the water by one of the top teams no question. But yeah, the key question is do they keep Albon and I think of the remaining teams we’ve got the big opposition there is Stake who do like Albon, would be willing to pay him extremely well, give him a long-term deal and then I think it comes down to which project do you prefer and that’s an interesting question.”

Albon has already been warned against joining Alpine in 2025 and Stake might make more sense.

However, if Williams take the right step forward then maybe staying put for an additional season could end up opening even more doors for Albon.

He needs to start the season well to stay on other teams’ radars, otherwise, there are several drivers of a similar age that Audi might turn to instead.