The Two Drivers I Think Will Be Driving for Williams Next Year
By Peter Ryan
The Williams team has had a rough start to the 2022 season. With only two top ten finishes, this perfectly reflects the performance of the car this season. When it comes to their two drivers’ performances in 2022, they have been in complete contrast of each other. When you look at Latif’s performance, they haven’t been great with crashing the car multiple times throughout the season. This put’s a strain on a team now more then ever with the budget cap being put in place. Then when you look at Albon, he has been pushing that car to the maximum of its potential. The evidence for this is that he is putting the car in a finishing positioning that it doesn’t belong. Albon has scored all of the teams’ points with a points finish in Australia and Miami. I think it is safe to say that Albon is a suitable replacement for George Russell. Now that silly season is starting to approach, I think it is the appropriate time for Williams to start looking at options for driver line ups for 2023.
1. Alex Albon- It seems that Albon has quickly been asserted into the role of the lead driver for the William’s team. He has had the performance to back up his role. He has been outperforming the car countless time. It is very similar to what George Russell was doing previously in that Williams car. This shows how good Albon is in a F1 car and is exactly the type of driver William’s needs in its car for the team to operate at a good level. When you look at other options that Albon has for the 2023 season, there is no real better option for him then Williams. This is because his path back to Red Bull has disappear with Pérez signing a new two-year deal. Then when you look elsewhere the only viable option for him is Haas. This is because it’s not clear whether the American owned team wants to continue its relationship with the young Mick Schumacher. However, I think that is a sideways move for a driver like Albon. This is because even though Haas are quicker than Williams now, I think Williams has more potential because of their new financial backing.
2. Oscar Piastri- I think that Latif’s time in Williams is up and I think that the 2021 F2 Champion will take his place. This is good news because Piastri deserved the chance to be racing in F1 for the 2022 season, but that didn’t happen. It looks like Alpine will loan out Piastri to Williams. This is exciting because it is nice to see that a young talent like Piastri isn’t going to be wasted like we have seen with other drivers like De Vreis and Illot. The move makes sense because Williams have shown they are not against taking a driver on loan. This evidence is they took Albon from Red Bull that way. It also makes sense because at the moment Williams isn’t a direct competitor to Alpine. This means that Alpine won’t have to worry about Piastri racing against them. This driver move has been heavily rumored for a while and its seems like we are just waiting for the official announcement.
They you have it there is a possible drive line-up for Williams in 2023.