Formula 1 news 2024: Could Williams driver Alex Albon end up in a rival’s seat next season?

There’s no doubt Alex Albon is enjoying his time helping to lift Williams from the bottom, but the Thai driver is keenly eyeing speculation that he could replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in 2025.

Alex Albon has described speculation linking him to a 2025 move to Mercedes to replace Lewis Hamilton as “nice noise” as he declared he was ready to be fighting at the front for podiums and wins.

After Hamilton’s shock announcement that he was quitting Mercedes to join rivals Ferrari, the Williams driver has been mooted as a potential replacement for the seven-time world champion.

Albon’s name has also been mentioned as a possible contender for a return to Red Bull for the seat alongside Max Verstappen if the team was to move on Sergio Perez.

The Thai driver enjoyed a promising 2023 campaign when he finished 13th in the drivers’ standings, which helped lift Williams to seventh in the constructors’ championship - the team’s best result in six years.

The speculation around Albon’s future led to Williams boss James Vowles issuing a pre-season warning to rivals that Albon remained under contract with the team until the end of 2025.

Albon said he remained committed to helping Williams “progress further”, but admitted he was also “seeing what else there is elsewhere”.

“It’s nice noise,” Albon said of the speculation about his future.

“It means that people are talking about me, but at the same time I just want to see where this journey takes me.

How will Albon go on Sunday? Picture: AFP

“I feel at Williams we are on this upwards trend, obviously in some ways (I’m) very keen to see us progress further and further.

“At the same time just seeing what there is elsewhere as well.

“It’s one of those things where realistically, I just have to be quite present in my approach to this year, do good performances and focus my work on this team and see what happens in the future.”

Albon scored 27 of Williams’ 28 points last season and the 27-year-old felt like he was now coming into his prime as a driver.

And he was confident he had the ability to be fighting at the front for wins and podiums.

“If you ask any driver, we would all say the same thing, but I feel like now I’m at a point in my career where I’ve got the experience and I’ve learnt a lot,” Albon said.

“I feel like I’ve been driving better than I have driven before and I know there is more to come.

“I feel like I am ready for those podiums and wins.”

After being dropped by Red Bull at the end of 2020, Albon spent a year on the sidelines and then improved from four points and 19th place in the standings in his first year with Williams in 2022 to his confidence-building 2023 campaign.

Lewis Hamilton will leave Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025, which leaves one seat empty as the Formula 1 powerhouse. Picture: AFP

“I feel like each year, as a driver I am progressing, but I feel like as a team we are as well. It always goes hand in hand,” Albon said.

“The performances, especially towards the mid-stint and onwards last year we really started to put in some solid performances.

“This year we have started with a much stronger car so hopefully we can get those results a little bit earlier on.”

Albon opened the 2024 season with a 15th and 11th placing in the first two races of the year in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and hoped for an improved showing at this week’s Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.

“We had a good year last year, unfortunately we had a little crash during the race but we were running up there in P6 I believe at the time. It seems to be a good track for us, so hopefully we can do a good job this year,” Albon said.

“The car has changed a lot from last year, so we have really evolved the car and we have changed our strengths and weaknesses.

“I will be interested to know if this track is still a strength for us, but we’ll see. It’s a lot of fun, this track. It is one of the best tracks that we go to drive and this crowd here always puts on a good show so I am very excited.”