Albon fires back at Alonso: 'F1 has no more pay drivers and the grid is the strongest it's been'

Alex Albon has pushed back against Fernando Alonso’s stinging assessment of the lower-order Formula 1 field, insisting the grid carries no pay drivers and is the strongest it has been in years — a direct rebuttal to the two-time world champion’s comments made in the Mexico City Grand Prix paddock.

Alonso’s frustration stems from a first-lap collision with the Williams driver at the Circuit of the Americas, where contact left his Aston Martin with permanent floor damage, costing him downforce across the remainder of the race. Speaking after Austin, Alonso was blunt: “I think the quality of the drivers in the low third of the grid is very low, as we saw today with Alex. We need to improve the car and start a little bit higher up.”

What initially appeared to be a heat-of-the-moment reaction hardened four days later in Mexico. Rather than walk back his words, Alonso doubled down. “I don’t know if it’s one third of the grid, but I think we all know which ones we talk about and which ones felt hit by that comment,” he 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 the opportunity was that Alex saw in that moment.”

Albon, who grew up idolising the Spaniard, acknowledged the criticism stung but was unequivocal in his disagreement. “I have a 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,” the Williams driver said. “You’re racing someone that you look up to, but at the same time, I don’t agree. It’s as simple as that. I think the level is strong up and down the grid. We don’t have pay drivers anymore. If anything, I would say the grid’s the strongest it’s been in a while.”

On the Austin incident itself, Albon maintained the clash was far from clear-cut. “I thought it was a good battle. 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.”

Albon was not alone in his pushback. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Haas driver Oliver Bearman, and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez all weighed in on Alonso’s comments when asked during the FIA press conference in Mexico City, adding further weight to the sense that the two-time champion’s remarks had landed poorly across the paddock.