David Coulthard was let down by six-DNF F1 driver he hoped would become the ‘real deal’ this season

Several Formula 1 teams and drivers disappointed during the 2024 season. Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were perhaps the biggest examples, but many in the midfield underwhelmed too.

Hamilton failed to finish in the top six for the first time in 18 seasons of Formula 1 racing. Teammate George Russell finished 22 points ahead, maximising the potential of an agonisingly inconsistent car.

Meanwhile, Sergio Perez ended up seven places and a whopping 285 points below Max Verstappen. While this wasn’t especially surprising in light of his 2023 woes, it surely cost the team the constructors’ title.

Aston Martin also flattered to deceive, with Fernando Alonso overachieving once again by scoring 70 points and finishing ninth. Lance Stroll was an anonymous 13th.

Daniel Ricciardo entered the year targeting a Red Bull seat, but wound up losing his drive with a quarter of the season to go. The team felt he’d lost his spark, so there was little point keeping him at junior squad at RB.

Sauber very nearly went the whole season without scoring a point, saved by Zhou Guanyu’s P8 at the penultimate race in Qatar. That temporary high wouldn’t salvage a miserable campaign.

Alex Albon failed David Coulthard’s test for the 2024 Formula 1 season

Williams were another who fell short of external expectations. The momentum they had built in 2023, when they scored 28 points, stalled as they dropped from seventh to ninth in the table.

Alex Albon was responsible for 12 of their 17 points, with Franco Colapinto contributing five after he replaced Logan Sargeant. But if Albon wants out of Williams, he’ll need to perform better to interest top teams.

The Thai driver ultimately won the qualifying head-to-head with Colapinto 7-2, but it was still striking to see Colapinto so close to him at the outset. He was within seven-thousandths at just his third race in Singapore.

This justified David Coulthard’s concerns that Albon’s reputation would suffer against a driver faster than Sargeant. Speaking on the Formula for Success podcast before the season started, Coulthard called for the former Red Bull man to show he was the ‘real deal’, but he didn’t rise to the challenge.

“I would like to see Alex Albon continue to grow in confidence and in performance,” Coulthard said. “I think he’s done a great job at Williams and we can all get very excited about it.

“All you need is a really quick teammate alongside you and all of that good work can be undone. I don’t think he’s pushed as hard by his teammate as he would be if he was alongside a Charles, or a Lewis, or a Max.

“That’s where I want to see Alex build himself to the point where, whether it’s Williams or whether he gets a chance in one of the more successful teams of the last few years, he’s built the mental resilience to be able to handle that. I’m hoping that Alex, having been humbled when he was alongside Max, is now the real deal.”

Why Alex Albon could be at risk of losing his Williams seat for 2026

Albon was partly responsible for his team’s brutal haul of 17 crashes in 2024. Williams will ‘probably’ breach the cost cap because they’ve spent so much on repairs.

Some of those accidents weren’t Albon’s fault. He was effectively taken out by Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda at the Japanese and Mexico City Grands Prix, while future teammate Carlos Sainz apologised to Albon after causing his Canadian GP retirement.

However, Albon clumsily tangled with Oliver Bearman in an FP1 session in Mexico and also wrecked his car in a wet Sao Paulo qualifying. He’ll hold himself to a higher standard given his experience.

As the table above shows, he suffered the most DNFs of any driver in 2024. Albon could be at risk of losing his Williams drive if Sainz comfortably outperforms him, even if he’s signed a new contract.