How Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari experience is helping Alexander Albon at Williams

A struggling Sainz
When Carlos Sainz decided to entrust his future to Williams, there was great curiosity within the Formula 1 paddock and among fans to understand what kind of balance of power would be established alongside Alexander Albon, a driver who has made significant progress and grown steadily over the last few seasons.

At the time of the announcement, very few would have predicted such a clear dominance in favor of Alexander Albon by the time the summer break arrived. The Anglo-Thai driver has in fact collected 54 points compared to only 16 points scored by the Spanish driver Carlos Sainz. In addition to this, Albon also leads in the qualifying head-to-head by a margin of 8-6, while in race results he holds an even stronger advantage of 9-4. These statistics underline how Albon has been consistently stronger, both in single-lap performance and in race execution, across the first part of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Albon compares Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz
The career of Alexander Albon was heavily influenced by his experience at Red Bull Racing, a period in which he was significantly overshadowed and outperformed by Dutch driver Max Verstappen. Albon recalled: when he was driving alongside Verstappen, he was focused above all on his own development, with a large part of the work consisting of analyzing every available piece of data to understand in detail how Max Verstappen was able to achieve certain results and perform specific maneuvers. At that time, however, Albon admitted that he was still inexperienced and lacked the knowledge to fully process and apply that information.

Now, by contrast, with Carlos Sainz as his teammate at Williams, Alexander Albon feels he has acquired both the maturity and the technical understanding needed to make sense of all the elements that contribute to performance. He explained that today he has the right mentality, the necessary awareness, and the deeper knowledge required to benefit from such a comparison.

The Sainz dossier
In his interview with RacingNews365, Alexander Albon continued with several noteworthy observations. He highlighted how he and Carlos Sainz have different driving styles, though the differences are not extreme but rather subtle. To further improve, they are now supported by a dedicated performance coach, who works with them to analyze their strengths and weaknesses, helping each driver to gain time in the areas where they may be slightly behind the other.

Albon also pointed out that the insights provided by Carlos Sainz, based on his past experiences at other teams, have proven to be particularly valuable. According to Albon, he has probably learned more from Carlos outside of the car than inside the cockpit, which he considers not necessarily a bad thing. These lessons have included understanding how Sainz communicates, how he approaches debriefs, and even how organizational processes function inside a top team like Scuderia Ferrari.

The Anglo-Thai driver described with great interest what he has discovered about Ferrari through Sainz’s perspective. He explained that everything from the strong work ethic of the Italian team, to the way technical meetings are conducted, to their structured approach to collaboration, has given him an eye-opening view of what makes Ferrari unique. For Alexander Albon, these details are not only fascinating but also extremely useful to integrate into his own professional growth.

This, in Albon’s opinion, demonstrates why Carlos Sainz is such an ideal fit for Williams. Sainz, through his experience with Ferrari and his way of working, has shown that he fully understands what the team needs to progress and develop. For Albon, this is further confirmation of the value that a teammate like Carlos Sainz can bring, even beyond the direct competition on track.