F1 star in savage jibe after being caught out by team principal

Alex Albon, Max Verstappen, Gabriel Bortoleto, Monaco, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 star in savage jibe after being caught out by team principal

Alex Albon was not happy with his car's performance in Hungary

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 6 August 2025 11:44

Williams F1 star Alex Albon has made a savage jibe about his team's pace at the Hungarian Grand Prix, addressing team principal James Vowles directly.

Albon had a dismal weekend, qualifying plum last before only being able to recover to 15th position in the race.

That came after two back-to-back points finishes at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps, which had buoyed the team following a torrid period of results prior to that.

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Overall, Williams have had a good start to the season leading up to F1's summer break, and are sat up in fifth in the constructors' championship.

However, reliability issues have plagued their first half of the season, and the team have also been to tracks where their car is simply not competitive.

The Hungaroring was one of those, and Albon has now hit out at his car's performance level in a hilarious interview with Radio X.

"I don't even remember anymore," Albon bravely admitted in an interview with Radio X when asked about how many gears his Williams has. "It is eight. Is it eight? Why do I not remember this?

Alex Albon has been outperforming Carlos Sainz this season

"If James was listening, I promise you he would say 'I'm not surprised with Alex.'"

Later, the radio show presenters revealed a message they'd got from Albon's team principal Vowles, in which he confirmed that he was indeed listening to the conversation.

Albon then responded to his boss with a cheeky jibe about the car, saying: "James, do you know why I was confused by seventh and eighth gear? It's because in Hungary we were so slow down the straights, I forgot that we had an eighth gear, I was just driving in seventh down the straights."

Albon worth his weight in gold for Williams

Albon started the season off in spectacular fashion, but his rate of scoring points has dropped off in the latter stages of the first half of the season.

The Thai driver has scored 14 points in the last seven race weekends, a stark contract to 40 in the first seven.

Nevertheless, he is still sat in eighth in the drivers' championship, and is just 10 points behind Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, who is driving a much faster car than Albon.

In comparison to his four-time grand prix winning team-mate Carlos Sainz, Albon is 38 points better off over the first 14 races.

Albon's worth to Williams over the past couple of seasons when he was alongside Logan Sargeant and Franco Colapinto was clear for all to see, but now he is also proving it against a former Ferrari racer who was linked with moves to Mercedes and Red Bull before joining Williams.

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Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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Silverstone Alex Albon Hungarian Grand Prix James Vowles Williams F1 Spa-Francorchamps