- Williams driver Alex Albon told reporters in Mexico City that he disagrees with Fernando Alonso’s claim that the lower third of the grid is “very low” in quality, and added “We don’t have pay drivers anymore,” per Motorsport.com.
- Alonso stood by his words at Mexico City media day and said “we all know which ones we are talking about.”
- Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Oliver Bearman and Sergio Perez all rejected the claim at the pre-event press conference.
The Boy Who Looked Up to Alonso Says This Grid Is the Strongest in a While
“You’re racing someone that you look up to, but at the same time, I don’t agree. It’s as simple as that.”
Alex Albon said that in Mexico City on Thursday, and the man he meant was Fernando Alonso. Four days earlier in Austin, the two-time world champion had stood in the media pen and pointed to Albon as an example of how low the quality of drivers in the lower third of the grid had fallen. On Thursday, the Williams driver answered him with respect and a flat refusal to agree.
“I have huge respect for Fernando, I looked up to him a lot growing up as a kid, and obviously it’s not nice to hear those comments in many ways,” Albon said. He called the level “strong up and down the grid.” Then he looked back. “I think 10, 15 years ago, the back half of the grid wasn’t the way it is now. We don’t have pay drivers anymore. If anything, I would say the grid’s the strongest it’s been in a while.”
Four other drivers rejected Alonso’s claim at the same event, and Alonso himself had not moved an inch from it.
What Alonso Said in Austin and Said Again in Mexico
The argument began on the opening lap of the United States Grand Prix. Alonso started 12th, and Albon picked up three places with a clean launch. At Turn 11 both drivers aimed for the same patch of track on the inside, and the opening lap collision in Austin put Alonso on the outside kerb with floor damage. Mike Krack, Aston Martin’s chief trackside officer, said the contact cost the car a considerable amount of downforce. The stewards did not investigate.
Alonso spoke to the media after the race. “When you start at the back, there is always this risk,” he said. “I think the quality of the drivers in the lower third of the grid is very low, as we saw today with Alex. So I think we need to improve the car and start a little bit higher up.”
Albon first played the remarks down as words spoken in the heat of the moment. Four days later, Alonso did not take that exit. At Mexico City media day he said he was “not specific about the number of them,” but he stood by the substance. “I think we all know which ones we are talking about and which ones felt targeted by that comment,” Alonso said. “That tells you everything, so I still feel the same. That was a mistake that was not needed and I still find it difficult to understand what opportunity Alex saw in that moment.”
He widened the point beyond one corner in Texas. “Unfortunately, I’ve been in that part of the race for the whole season, so I see things from the car that I cannot tell you,” Alonso said.
Asked whether standards had slipped over the years, Alonso said they had not. “No, I think it’s the same over the years,” he said. He described cars at the back of the field as harder to drive, with less grip, and said the result is more mistakes. “The car does not welcome you in a nice way, so you make more mistakes.” Still, he called the first-lap touches and the front wings flying around “not necessary,” especially “if you are fighting for nothing at the back of the grid.”
The Driver Alonso Singled Out
Albon is 30. He was born in London on March 23, 1996, and races under the Thai flag. His first word was “Ferrari,” and he grew up idolizing Michael Schumacher. The route to Formula 1 ran through a close fight with a name that comes up again below: Charles Leclerc beat him to the 2016 GP3 title. Albon took the 2018 Formula 2 fight down to the wire, then reached F1 in 2019 with Toro Rosso and moved up to Red Bull Racing in the middle of that rookie season.
The Red Bull seat did not last. The team dropped Albon from its race line-up after 2020 and kept him as test and reserve driver, and he returned to the grid with Williams in 2022. He has 145 grands prix to his name and two podium finishes. Heading into Mexico City he sits 19th in the standings on five points from 18 races, driving for a team in the middle of a difficult 2026 season.
Alonso is 45, a two-time world champion from Oviedo with 445 starts and 106 podiums. Alonso sits 17th on seven points. That is the context for the exchange: a veteran in the lower half of the standings criticized a younger driver in the same part of the table, and the younger man had grown up looking up to him.
Albon saw the Austin duel differently. “I thought it was a good battle,” he said. “I thought we had a good scrap. Clearly, he didn’t think the same thing, but it was a race-long battle. Even the incident at that point itself, I thought, was very 50-50 in terms of where the cars were on track.”
Leclerc Remembers Albon From the Karting Days
Leclerc answered the same question at the drivers’ press conference, and his reply came from childhood. The Ferrari driver, fifth in the standings, called the level of the field very high.
“I think it’s very high. I think it’s very, very high. Just like I was saying earlier, most of the grid, we grew up together in karting,” Leclerc said. “Alex was up there and was actually a driver I was looking up to. He was always one or two categories above me, but he was exceptional.”
That memory sits next to the 2016 GP3 result, when Leclerc beat Albon to the title. Leclerc, deep into a season of his own, said the front and the back of the grid differ in one respect.
“Today, I’m sure that the level of the grid is super, super high, whether it’s in the back, in the middle or in the front,” the Monegasque said. “The only things that change is obviously the race car that we are driving, but the standards are very high.”
Gasly, Bearman and Perez Back Albon
Pierre Gasly, in his tenth season in F1, opened with a joke. “Well, I’m pleased I’m in the first half, so I’ve made the cut myself,” the Alpine driver said. Then he turned to Alonso. “You have to love Fernando for the statements he makes out there,” Gasly said. “I have so much respect for the driver he is, and at the same time, he’s very vocal.”
Gasly admitted he was “not too sure what he referred to,” and still disagreed with the verdict. He said the level on the grid is “probably one of the highest” he has seen over about nine years in the sport. “I’ve seen some wild driving approaches when I joined compared to what I see now,” Gasly said.
Oliver Bearman of Haas, 13th in the championship, placed himself in the middle. “Luckily, I’m just about in the middle third, not the bottom one, so I get away with it,” he said. “But no, I think that’s a slightly harsh conclusion.” He pointed to his own disaster with Gasly in Austin. “With the gaps that we face this year, you have to be very opportunistic at times, and that can end in disaster,” Bearman said.
His argument was about the machinery. “So I wouldn’t say it’s a question of quality. It’s a question of trying your very best and trying to make something happen, which is very challenging when the top eight positions are pretty much all filled by the top four teams.”
Sergio Perez has won six grands prix and now races at the back with newcomer Cadillac. He made a similar point. “Of course, I think the level at the back is as high as in the front,” Perez said. “If we swap cars with the guys at the front, we will be having very similar results or vice versa. This is the only issue with Formula 1; you are as good as your car and your team.”
The Cost Cap Jab and the Question of Ambition
Alonso aimed one line at the teams and the drivers alike. “There is the cost cap also adding to this problem,” he said, “but if their teams are happy with the cost cap and breaking things every race, it’s okay for them.” Williams team principal James Vowles has repeatedly called for a rethink of the cost cap, and that is the team Albon drives for.
Alonso does not put the problem on the stewards. “No, I think the stewards, it’s not their job unless there is something clearly unsafe,” he said. “It’s just whatever ambition those drivers have, whatever they want for the future.” He listed the options: “If they want to stay in Formula 1 for longer, if they want to have an opportunity to get into a bigger team, or if they are happy to crash.”
Leclerc, Bearman and Perez answered by pointing to the car, and Albon answered with the depth of the grid.
Albon ended his reply with a hope. “It is what it is, hopefully we don’t cross paths in the race this weekend.” Qualifying is on Saturday and the Mexico City Grand Prix is on Sunday, and the opening lap is the next place the two drivers can meet on track.
