Alex Albon has dismissed that Carlos Sainz’s arrival at Williams has ramped up the pressure on him in F1, citing that he is relishing the “great challenge” ahead.
For me it’s one of the strongest driver pairings on the grid if not the strongest, depending on how Hamilton settles at Ferrari cos if he is on fire then he and Leclerc are incredible.
I mean, we’ll see. Carlos has proven he’s a great driver at this point, close enough to but not quite at title challenger level in my opinion. I like Albon a lot, but he’s not really been tested since his days next to Verstappen. I could see this driver pairing shake out as very even and everyone ending up rating Albon higher because of it, but I can also see a world where Albon gets completely destroyed by Sainz.
Ferrari could end up as the strongest pairing, but I’m very unsure about Hamilton these days. He’s only had flashes of brilliance but has been very inconsistent and also seems to have lost his edge in qualifying. Assuming Oscar keeps developing as he has my money is on McLaren as having the strongest pairing this season.
You know what, I somehow missed McLaren and you are totally right about their quality. Every other team bar Ferrari has either a meh pair or a rookie or one out and out excellent driver who is miles ahead of others.
So I’ll edit my initial thoughts to say that, personally, I think that Ferrari, McLaren and Williams will have the strongest pairings but time will tell!
All the drivers bar stroll are under pressure every weekend. Albon was already under pressure last season due to the amount on crashes. Antonielli is under pressure to show the goods… Id put Norris under pressure from Piastri an put them at the top pairing due to momentum and having the same drivers this season.
Hoping for good things for Williams.
