Alex Albon signs Williams extension despite rough start to season: ‘One tough year doesn’t tell the full picture’

Alex Albon will continue to race for Williams in Formula 1 next year after extending his contract with the team.

Albon, 30, joined Williams in 2022 and has been a key part of the team’s efforts to climb up the F1 standings, helping the team finish fifth in last year’s constructors’ championship.

After signing his latest multi-year deal in May 2024 to cover the 2025 and 2026 seasons, Albon has now extended his contract into 2027.

Williams issued a statement on Tuesday ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix confirming that Albon would remain with the team for next year.

The news comes amid a difficult year for Williams in which its on-track form has dipped significantly, limiting Albon to just five points in the opening half of the season.

BREAKING: Alex Albon will remain with Williams for 2027 #F1 @WilliamsF1 pic.twitter.com/UpUNcV1guf

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 18, 2026

“Since joining Williams in 2022, the transformation this team has made is difficult to put into words,” Albon said in the statement. “One tough year doesn’t tell the full picture, and it only gives me more motivation to keep building and pushing together with the factory and our fans to achieve great things.

“Our story is not over yet, so my full focus now is on doing whatever it takes to get us back up the grid.”

Albon made his return to the F1 grid with Williams in 2022 after losing his seat with Red Bull at the end of 2020, leaving him to spend a year on the sidelines.

At last month’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Albon made his 100th start for Williams after breaking Nigel Mansell’s record for the most starts in the team’s history at June’s Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The announcement leaves Williams with only one unconfirmed seat for 2027, currently occupied by former Ferrari and McLaren driver Carlos Sainz.

Stability good for Williams — but what about Albon?

Now the longest-serving driver in Williams’ steeped F1 history, Albon has been a key part of the revival the team is working toward after falling far from its past glories in the past decade following a period of financial struggle and underinvestment.

Through the ups and — more relevant this year — downs of that recent journey for Williams, Albon has so frequently been a shining light with his performances on the race track.

Sainz may have arrived as the race-winning driver from Ferrari and scored a brace of podiums for Williams last year. But it was Albon who scored the majority of the points, helping lift Williams to its best championship finish in nine years.

Sainz and Albon have combined for 11 points this season (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Were this a year filled with driver market movement, then Albon would surely be on the radar of the top teams. Although there remains a question mark over Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull, there otherwise seems to be very little room for change amid the front-running operations.

Right now, sticking with Williams seems like Albon’s best bet, at least for one more year as it bids to recover from its stumble in 2026. It gives him time to keep evaluating the Williams project and ensure it is still on the course that James Vowles, the team principal, has sold Albon on through recent years.

And if he then does want to pursue a change after 2027, it gives more time for potential movement at the front of the grid or other options to emerge for a driver now seemingly in the prime of his career.