Max Verstappen 'killed' career of F1 star but now top teams are considering him again

On the Formula 1 grid right now, there are two stellar examples of drivers who have made it back after being cast out into the wilderness. One of them is Nico Hulkenberg, who spent three years without a race seat before getting another chance and is leading the Audi project on track, aged 37, now as a podium winner at Silverstone.

The other is almost a decade his junior and managed to cling onto his F1 career despite having had far less experience when he was given the boot. Alex Albon had a whirlwind start to life in the sport, spending just half-a-season driving for Toro Rosso in 2019 before being hastily elevated into a Red Bull Racing seat.

That accelerated timeline came about because his predecessor, Pierre Gasly, had floundered. And it was similarly tough for Albon alongside Max Verstappen, who is and has for a long time been the undisputed number one driver at Red Bull.

Several drivers who have tried to survive alongside the Dutchman have been chewed up and spat out. Albon was in that position for 18 months but was axed at the end of the Covid-hit 2020 campaign and had no place on the grid for the following season. As Guenther Steiner recently put it, his career was one of several "killed" by Verstappen.

After a year out, he was given a chance by Williams – his return to the F1 grid assisted by Red Bull with whom he remained affiliated. Despite the team's lack of competitiveness, he impressed enough in 2022 which earned him a new multi-year deal which completely ended Albon's formal relationship with his previous employer.

He penned a further new deal last year and the general consensus over those three season was that he did a good job. It was hard to measure, though seeing as his team-mates during that period were a trio of racers who struggles to make an impression – first Nicholas Latifi, then Logan Sargeant and, for the final nine races of 2024, Franco Colapinto.

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It is this year, now that he is alongside a bona fide star and multiple F1 race winner in the form of Carlos Sainz, that Albon, now 29, has been truly tested. Not only that, but Williams have made tangible progress in their quest to return to the front of the grid after almost 30 years without title success and, so far this year, have been the best of all the teams on the grid outside the 'big four'.

Albon, of course, had the advantage over Sainz of having been settled in the team for a few years, while the Spaniard is new and has had to adapt to life after Ferrari. But the British-Thai racer has risen to the challenge admirably and, heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix, has managed 54 points so far this year. No-one driving for any team that isn't McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull has done better.

His performances have not gone unnoticed, especially back at his former team Red Bull. Before he was shown the door last month, Christian Horner was watching Albon's progress with interest, while adviser Helmut Marko, who is still there and has a significant say in their driver decisions, also admires what he has achieved at Williams.

Red Bull continue to struggle with their second seat, with Yuki Tsunoda currently occupying it after Liam Lawson was dropped just two races into the season, but the Japanese looks unlikely to retain it beyond this year unless he can find a significant upturn in his performances and results. Plus, the team will also worry that Verstappen will quit next season if they cannot compete at the front with their new engines, built in-house for the first time.

The 2026 driver market is likely to be a more active one than this year with several drivers out of contract at the end of next season. Albon's performances have made him an attractive target for even the top teams on the grid and team principal James Vowles is fully aware that both his drivers are likely to be the subject of interest from elsewhere.

He said in Budapest this weekend that he wants to "make sure we have conversations early enough in 2026" and "commit early, instead of letting things linger until the August break". That would be wise, given Red Bull are not the only ones likely to be sniffing around Albon if they get even the faintest whiff of the possibility of snatching him away from Williams.