IMOLA, Italy (Reuters) – Alex Albon spoke of “seismic movements” behind the scenes at Williams as he explained his reasons for signing a multi-year extension with a Formula One team yet to score a point this season.
The British-born Thai, who has been at Williams since 2022, gave a vote of confidence in the former champions on Wednesday with news he would race for them into the new engine era that starts in 2026.
“It just fell down to what team do I think suited me best and that was Williams,” the 28-year-old, who had been linked to champions Red Bull and Mercedes, told reporters at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
“On my side, it was just about ‘get it done, get it signed, focus more on building the story and focusing on the future for the team’,” he added.
“I believe in the project. I believe in (team boss) James (Vowles) and the board. So, I think the ceiling at Williams is higher than what we’re showing at the moment.
“There are seismic movements going on behind the scenes at the team. It’s going to take a bit more time to truly reflect that.”
Vowles told reporters Albon had committed what promised to be the best years of his career to the Mercedes-powered team and said the driver had been “on the list of pretty much everyone I spoke to”.
Williams started the season on the back foot and without a spare chassis — a situation that came back to bite them when Albon crashed in practice for Australia and took team mate Logan Sargeant’s car for the race.
Albon said Vowles was putting in place solid foundations at Williams and the team should have their systems fully firing by 2026.
“It’s the vision and the experience of James,” he said when pushed on the ‘seismic’ comment.
“The out of date procedures or even the software… when you think about where we are in terms of performance now, still fighting on the fringes of points, still able to compete where we are, a lot of that is just down to the people we have.
“But the foundational part of the team still needs work on and you can see a lot of these changes already happening. You see this huge shift… I see it, I’m part of it and I believe in it,” he added.
Vowles said Williams now had more than 1,000 employees, compared to around 700 when he joined, and they were still hiring.
“That is a significant change,” added the boss. “The element of the organisation that produces the car, that has gone through a very significant design change. Different leadership, different structures are going on there as well.
“We have many not started yet but really good individuals are joining us from Red Bull and Ferrari…that will just allow us to sprinkle excellence within the organisation.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
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