Formula 1: Top 5 pending free agents heading into 2023
By Asher Fair
Top 5 Formula 1 free agents: No. 2 – Alex Albon
Alex Albon’s Formula 1 career might well have been over after the 2020 season, when he lost his ride with Red Bull to Sergio Perez. He had been with the team since replacing Pierre Gasly during the 2019 season, but two podium finishes (four and possibly a win without contact from Lewis Hamilton) in 26 starts weren’t enough to get the team to bring him back.
After spending the 2021 season out of the sport, Albon landed back at Williams in 2022, and he had a solid year, scoring four points in what turned out to be yet another year at the back of the grid for the Grove-based team.
There have been some questions about Albon’s performance, even since returning to the sport and becoming the top driver at Williams almost right away. Nyck de Vries finished in ninth place, matching Albon’s best result, when he filled in for the 26-year-old Thai-British driver at Monza, and that finish alone netted him half of Albon’s season-long point total.
Now Albon will have a new challenge, with rookie teammate Logan Sargeant replacing Nicholas Latifi. Can the sport’s first full-time American driver since 2006 push Albon to reach new heights in a year that many expect to be Williams’ best in a while?