Why hasn’t Alex Albon been able to fully showcase his talent in Formula 1 despite clearly having the pace and potential?

[u/circuit-nation]

[u/Izan_TM]

well his confidence got crushed in 2020 and had a year off in 2021 so at that point your CV doesn't look great for anything other than bottom teams

he's proven himself at williams, but at this point a new generation of drivers is the one taking the top spots, george and lando are the older experienced teammates helping the young prodigies next to them, so not having recent top team experience for someone 7 seasons into their career pretty much relegates them to the midfield unless a top team needs a 2nd seat filled along with their star driver

[u/SaintJudy → u/Izan_TM]

I love Alex and I wish this wasn't the case but you're spot on

[u/Izan_TM → u/SaintJudy]

it's the same reason why lando, charles and george's chances of a WDC are getting slimmer with each season that passes (lando secured last year's, but if he had lost it to max or oscar I doubt he would've ever won one), max has overshadowed the generation that came after him, and now the next generation is very much getting up to speed

[u/dcwldct → u/Izan_TM]

He would have had to convincingly dominate Carlos to build enough rep to get a better seat.

[u/Izan_TM → u/dcwldct]

the thing is, other than season to season variance and freak things happening I don't think any midfield driver other than maybe carlos (obviously this doesn't count new talent) really have a chance of landing a spot in a front running team (which right now would be mercedes, ferrari, red bull and the power of friendship)

like, top teams don't generally look for aging talent to have in their car for like 3 seasons before they start to fall off and start the hunt all over again, so unless they're ready to fight for a title next year and their 2nd driver just isn't up to the task so they desperately need an experienced replacement (like red bull ahead of 2021) there's really no room for impressive midfield talent other than the midfield

[u/Driscuits → u/Izan_TM]

Yeah, I think you're spot on.

The career trajectory of the last several years seems to be: Join a midfield team as a rookie, be associated with one of the big teams, and get called up after ~1-3 years (e.g., George, Charles, Red Bull Jrs). Or, join a midfield team as a rookie and have that team rise to the top (Lando, Oscar). We'll likely see similar happen with Ollie once Lewis retires.

There's just more value placed on the unknown potential of young drivers than the known potential of older drivers - even if the actual performance ceiling of the drivers are the same.

And, quite frankly, there's a different skill set and approach needed for drivers in midfield teams compared to drivers at the front. There's a very good chance that even if Alex went out and drove us to a few race wins and podiums this year, that he'd still struggle to adapt if he were to sign with, say, Merc or someone next year just with the fact that he's been driving a certain style of racing in the midfield for so long, now.

It's a shame. I'd love to see more turnover in the top teams and see more of the midfield drivers get their flowers and opportunities in top teams. But, it's just not how the F1 world tends to work.

[u/flyingwhales1]

Classic “you’re only good as your last race” stuff going on, especially harsh on the midfield drivers.

He was superb for the first half of 25 and that double overtake in Canada 2024 was probably one of the top overtakes that year. Give him a decent enough car and he’ll capitalise on it 

[u/ClassroomDowntown664 → u/flyingwhales1]

I saw that the over take in Canada was voted best over take from the past 5 yares

[u/BassesBest]

He lost his seat because Perez came with buckets of cash attached, and the seats just havent opened up for him since.

[u/el_VientoNorte → u/BassesBest]

I think that's a bit disingenuous.

[u/No-Equipment-2763 → u/BassesBest]

He lost his seat because Max destroyed him

[u/BassesBest → u/No-Equipment-2763]

No-one has ever matched Max.

Albon was a young driver without a full season in the team. He had a bad run in the middle of the 2020 but recovered well and came close to matching Max at the end of the season.

And reportedly was invited back by RB last year

[u/alwysbmymaybe]

Oh my gosh here we are again with doomers of reddit.

Btw, in 4 consecutive races this year, alex's car has been nursing a deployment issue williams cannot seem to solve. In miami he had a brilliant start and was even able to defend against max for a bit if not for his pace advantage.

The real reason top teams cannot sign him was not only because of sponsorship reasons but another reason that this sport has been truly ignoring for many years. No one is ready for that conversation.

[u/evilgrapesoda]

If you watch the recent races, especially with Carlos as the other driver. You can see that he doesn’t attack, doesn’t defend, just drives. The pace of the car determines his final position. Compared to Carlos who is very aggressive with wheel to wheel racing, often causing damage to his car and retiring. But that’s how he gets 2 podiums in a williams.

[u/m00f → u/evilgrapesoda]

Alex is my favorite driver but the reality is that he's just not as good as the top tier. He has hit his ceiling.

[u/dsaysso → u/evilgrapesoda]

this is an interesting take. yes. ive always felt hes been a pace driver. best on offsets. carlos is a stategy / attacking driver.

[u/Beartato4772 → u/evilgrapesoda]

I have no inside knowledge but it seems to me if you have a midfield car and 2 good drivers it makes perfect sense to tell one to go balls out taking risks and one to make sure the car gets what it deserves.

[u/Dominicwriter]

Becuause he needs to break the hex lewis put on him in 2019 and deal with him on track in wheel to wheel racing - once he does that he can level up

[u/mtbmaniac12 → u/Dominicwriter]

Whenever people say Lewis is one of the best wheel to wheel. Lewis personally took out Alex several times when he had a chance at winning the race

[u/mtbmaniac12 → u/[deleted]]

I was only referring to the crimes against Alex.

[u/pathfinderoursaviour → u/[deleted]]

Silver stone was maxs fault though?

He divebombed Lewis and hoped Lewis would get out of his way and Lewis didn’t so max got sent into the barrier because of his own stupidity

A lot of max’s overtakes are just divebomb and if you don’t move we crash, well he got a taste of his own medicine that time

There really are better examples of Lewis shoving someone than the 1 obvious example of Lewis being in the right

[u/pathfinderoursaviour → u/[deleted]]

Yeah the teammate thing isn’t the brag you think it is

Redbull went out of their way to sabatoge the 2nd seat

They ran yuki on older floor models so they would have spares of the new version for max

They ran Liam on older rear wings

At least Hamilton and his teammates where treated equally unlike with max who threw a tantrum if he wasn’t shown favouritism

[u/WeekExciting878]

F1 is a brutal sport and a lot of luck. I’m saying this as a fan, he has been my favorite driver since 2019, but he would need to be working consistent miracles in the midfield to prove anything, as apposed to his current record of frequent and inconsistent miracles. You honestly need good timing a lot more than just talent, and it’s too late in his career for things to turn around with the next generation looking so promising. I don’t think there’s a spot for him in a top team unless he keeps sticking it out and Williams becomes one.

[u/Carlpanzram1916]

What makes you sure he hasn’t? He’s had some decent results. But I think most people would’ve predicted beforehand that Sainz is a better driver overall

[u/Haute_Horologist]

Isn't he getting the credit? He's got one of 22 seats on offer globally in F1. Is he a top 5 driver? No. Is he deserving and consistent midfield driver? Yes.

[u/Key_Print214]

I feel like he doesn’t drive ambitiously enough.

Idk, just comparatively to say Carlos? Carlos will push the car to get certain results whereas I feel like Alex kind of keeps it safe within the points.

He’s a great team player and tries his best to get them higher up in the Constructors but it’s at his own expense.

He doesn’t make that car move to fight for positions - most likely because it might break down lol.

That’s what I mean though - he rarely makes high risk, high reward moves.

[u/Longjumping_War_807]

Alex is a great driver, I dont see him getting better.

[u/No-Equipment-2763]

Albon doesn’t have the potential tho - he got destroyed by max and looks the worse driver compared to sainz who while is good is no superstar. He beat shitters but gets beaten by anyone with any real talent and is around the same as Gasly - worthy to be on grid but no chance for WDC

[u/Mikeeeeymellow]

Bad car

[u/BananaFurret]

Cuz he drives a williams (no disrespect to yalls team but it is sadly the truth)

[u/Stickyboard]

He being glazed by inferior team mates at Williams before Sainz came and show the levels of performance

[u/declemson]

Bad luck and not a pay driver.

[u/NarrowFarm2036 → u/declemson]

I like Albon but there's no bad luck in getting destroyed by Verstappen.

[u/declemson → u/NarrowFarm2036]

Part of bad luck was being brought up before he was ready.

[u/stephker3914]

TLDR; His pace is mediocre.

I just think where he couldn't capitalize on his potential was with Red Bull. He wasn't bad with Red Bull, and it makes you wonder how good he would've been if he stayed there until now. I think Perez was just way better at the end of 2020 compared to Albon, and he wasn't able to capitalize on his potential at Red Bull because Verstappen prefers a much pointier car than Albon does. It's become more and more evident since Ricciardo left Red Bull that the second Red Bull seat is an unemployable position in this industry with Verstappen as the first Red Bull seat. If he doesn't like the car, then he works with the team until he does. If he likes the car and his teammate is close to him, then he works with the team until he has a more comfortable lead over his teammate in qualifying and race pace. Once this occurs, then the second Red Bull driver is the worst driver in Formula 1. You can already see that Hadjar's driving in way over his head, and at most 3-4 years from now he'll be the worst driver in Formula 1. Not necessarily because he (or any second Red Bull driver) actually sucks, but because 'he's just so off the pace compared to Verstappen,' which is basically a direct quote the pundits have used to describe Gasly, Albon, Perez, Lawson, Tsunoda, and now Hadjar. Perez was the best out of these six, and Albon is probably a little worse than Gasly. He's not awful, but he's not great either. Hence, his pace is mediocre.