Alex Albon appears set to take over George Russell’s seat at Williams in 2022, according to multiple reports.
The London-born Thai driver has been off the Formula 1 grid this year after being replaced by Sergio Perez at Red Bull but continued on at the team in a reserve driver role as well as racing in DTM.
Last month, it appeared Albon was already looking elsewhere for opportunities for next season after visiting Indianapolis for the IndyCar event on the road course at the iconic speedway.
Later, it emerged he had initial talks with Dale Coyne Racing about a seat, with team owner Dale Coyne noting Albon was “on his radar”.
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However, now it seems F1 is firmly back on the agenda with Italian media claiming the 25-year-old is the “first choice” to take the seat that will be vacated by Russell.
The link may not be too surprising given George is a close friend of Alex, and he will no doubt be backing Albon to replace him at Williams.
While Red Bull has also vowed to help find their driver a seat where possible.
“Alex still remains an important part of the team,” said team boss Christian Horner. “He’s played a key role this year and will continue to play that role.
“We’re just looking at if there are any options in Formula 1 for him for next year. But in the event that he’s not in a race seat, he will be performing the same role that he has done for us this year.”
All this comes as the news of Kimi Raikkonen’s retirement on Wednesday is expected to trigger a wave of announcements with Valtteri Bottas going to Alfa Romeo and Russell heading to Mercedes.
Formula E champion Nyck De Vries is also strongly being linked to the second seat at Alfa in what is likely to be the last driver change on the grid for 2022.