Alex Albon needs 'to be a ...' to be F1 world champion, says Williams engineer in a reference to Max Verstappen

In a press conference during the 2022 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix weekend, Williams engineer François-Xavier Demaison revealed what the team expects from Thai driver Alex Albon.

In a probable reference to the reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen, Demaison stated that he has been advising Albon for some time and expects him to push further.

Although he believes that the year Alex has had with the team has been fine, and his experience has helped the team a lot, he feels that he should be a little harder on the team.

Demaison said that he apparently told him to be like someone or something, which he refused to elaborate on in the conference. The engineer said:

"Every day I tell him, ‘you have to be a…’ a word I will not pronounce! If you want to be a World Champion, you have to be like this!’"

Alex Albon became a part of team Williams in 2022. Before this, he partnered with Verstappen for almost two seasons, until his seat was replaced by Sergio Perez in 2021 and he served as a reserve driver for them.

After joining Williams in 2022, he was the sole point scorer in the relatively less competitive car for a long time. Although the team sits last in the constructors' standings, there has been a gradual improvement in performance. Albon has a big role to play in this development of the team from his experience at Red Bull.

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Williams engineer believes Alex Albon needs to be a little hard with the team

While talking about Alex Albon, Demaison stated that his experience has helped the team recover. However, he also revealed that Albon is "sometimes too nice."

Demaison wants Albon to be a little harder with the team and push more to obtain the required results. He stated that he has been working with him on this:

"Because of his experience, thanks to Paul, it’s helped us and given us the right direction. So, it’s really a good help. And he’s a nice person – sometimes too nice. He needs to be a bit more hard with the team and push us a bit more – but I’m working on this."

Alex Albon has scored 4 points with the British team so far this season. As we head into the final race of the season, both him and Nicholas Latifi are expected to work harder.

The 2022 F1 Abu Dhabi GP will also be Latifi's final race with the team, as he is parting ways and his 2023 move hasn't been decided yet. It is speculated that he will get out of Formula 1 and try his luck with some other motorsport series.