Albon motivated by 'undeserved' criticism

Williams driver Alex Albon had "motivation and hunger" to prove criticism of his Red Bull performances was unjust upon his return to F1.

The Thai-British driver made his F1 debut in 2019 with Toro Rosso but after the summer break that season, Albon was called up to Red Bull in place of the struggling Pierre Gasly.

Albon was unable to match Max Verstappen for pace but had been on course for a podium and potential victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix only for contact with Lewis Hamilton to take him out of the running.

In his first full season as a Red Bull driver, Albon was able to amass only two podiums and was dropped to a reserve and development role at the end of the year.

Following a campaign in DTM last term, Williams sought to replace Mercedes-bound George Russell with Albon, giving the 26-year-old a second chance.

Whilst the FW44 has been largely uncompetitive in the opening 13 races, Albon's performances have yielded two points finishes.

Asked in an interview including GPFans whether he felt there was a point to prove on his return, Albon replied: "Yes, I guess so.

"I felt like obviously, 2020 wasn't a great year, and I felt like maybe I got heavily criticized over something which, in reflection, didn't feel like it was that bad of a year.

"Almost... you go out the sport and then you can't really show people what you felt like you can do.

"When they got the opportunity to get back into F1, it was like 'this is the perfect place, the perfect time now to put them comments to bed'.

"And of course, there's always going to be a lot of motivation and hunger to do that, but also, of course, it was purely just to get back into F1."