Williams tie down Alex Albon to a new 'multi-year' deal

Williams tie down Alex Albon to a new ‘multi-year’ deal… with the London born star poking fun at Oscar Piastri’s Alpine snub on Twitter after posting a similarly worded tweet confirming his contract extension

• Alex Albon returned to Formula One after a one-year absence and has impressed
• The former Red Bull star has three world championship points for Williams
• Albon’s team-mate for 2023 remains unclear though in volatile driver market 

Williams have confirmed that Alex Albon will continue racing for the team for 2023 and beyond after agreeing an extension to his current deal.

After being axed from Red Bull in 2020, Albon was brought back to Formula One this season by the backmarkers and has impressed in taking the team’s only three points of the season so far.

Williams announced the deal on Twitter confirming that the Thai-British racer, who was born in London, has signed a multi-year deal.

Williams have confirmed the ‘multi-year’ extension of Alex Albon’s contract with the team

The deal comes fewer than 24 hours after Alpine posted a message on Twitter confirming they had signed Oscar Piastri for the 2023 season, only for the Australian youngster to reveal he had not agreed any deal and would not be racing for the team.

Piastri said on Twitter: ‘I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.’

Following Piastri’s shock statement that has rocked F1’s traditional summer break, Albon used a similar template to respond to his own contract news, though this time agreeing to his new deal with the Williams team.

Despite the backmarkers’ struggles, Albon has picked up three world championship points

Using a laughing face and flexing arm emjois, Albon posted; ‘I understand that, with my agreement, Williams Racing have put out a press release this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is right and I have signed a contract with Williams for 2023. I will be driving for Williams next year. Let’s gooo Williams.’

Albon was widely expected to be confirmed to Williams for next season but his team-mate for 2023 still remains unclear.

F1’s ‘silly season’ has already seen Fernando Alonso announce a shock move from Alpine to Aston Martin to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel, with Alpine having hoped Piastri could fill the Spaniard’s seat.

Oscar Piastri snubbed racing for Alpine in 2023 and had been in line to drive for Williams

Before Alonso’s shock announcement, Piastri was widely expected to join Williams for 2023 as Albon’s team-mate before returning to Alpine for 2024.

Albon’s current team-mate Nicholas Latifi is under pressure to retain his seat at the Mercedes powered team, who have other options including Nyck de Vries.

The Formula E champion is expected to make the step up to F1 and the Mercedes contracted star has already featured for Williams in Friday practice this term at the Spanish Grand Prix.

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