Top ranking for Alex Albon at Williams
Alex Albon could smile broadly after the race: fifth place was his best finish since joining Williams in 2022.
On Saturday, Alex Albon had already delivered an exceptional performance, reaching sixth place on the grid. For Williams, the satisfaction was doubled with Carlos Sainz’s tenth place.
This season will be marked by preparation for the 2026 season and its technical revolutions. In this context, the mid-field and back-marker teams will seek to maximize all opportunities at the start of the season, as they will quickly abandon developments on this year’s car to quickly shift focus to next year.
With uncertain weather, Williams knew there were both opportunities that would arise and the possibility of losing everything very quickly. This materialized right at the start of the race when Carlos Sainz lost control of his car under the safety car regime and ended up in the protective barrier.
If he mentioned a strong couple suddenly appearing, he then realized that it was a problem related to the gear ratios increasing when the car is in safety car mode: For me, we looked at the data and quickly understood what happened, which calms me a bit regarding the situation. Without going into details, it’s related to the gear increase when we use the safety car mode. I am obviously frustrated, and I apologize to everyone on the team. I spent the rest of the race trying to help on the radio, and I’m glad I could participate at least in that way.
But Alex Albon, for his part, was perfectly able to take advantage of his position on the track. So while he was overtaken at the start by Charles Leclerc, he was able to withstand the pressure imposed by the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton without too many problems.
When the weather conditions shifted, the Williams strategist made the perfect decisions, which propelled the Thai driver to fourth place during the last green flag: « It was such a crazy race. I’m just trying to process what happened. It’s fantastic for the team, first and foremost. A great strategy. I have to say that Charles (Antoine Florentin), our strategist, did an excellent job. I didn’t agree with his decision to bring me into the pits. The track was completely dry in sectors 1 and 2 when I came back out, but it was the right decision and I’m very happy for everyone. »
The driver thought he would be able to maintain his fourth place, but Kimi Antonelli’s penalty was ultimately annulled after the race. However, this fifth place remains an excellent result, his best since joining Grove in 2022. He is even two points away from the 2024 total. « It’s a bit strange because fourth (fifth after the cancellation of the Mercedes driver’s penalty) is very special, but when it happens at the first race, you lose a bit of what it represents! But no, it’s for everyone at Grove as well. We had a very good winter and a very nice day yesterday. »
What a contrast to last year when the Thai driver was the only Williams driver able to start, due to a lack of spare parts after a series of accidents at the beginning of the season.
