Alex Albon revealed the psychological impact of the difficulties faced by Williams in the 2026 Formula 1 season. According to the Thai-British driver, the team has spent the year trying to solve successive problems, making it difficult to identify what is the responsibility of the car and what depends on his own performance.
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This year, Williams expected to move up the grid after focusing resources on developing the current car, but performance ended up going in the opposite direction. The team lost ground compared to the position held the previous year and also failed to score in the last five races, reaching the August break in ninth place in the constructors’ championship.
For Albon, who is competing in his fifth season with Williams, the situation has been particularly complicated, as there is no simple solution to the problems presented: “It’s very psychological this year, in that sense, because there is no easy thing,” he said.
Albon also compared the moment experienced by the team to firefighting work, with different problems requiring attention throughout the stages: “As a team, we are also struggling. We have small fires that we are trying to put out. So it’s hard to differentiate what is you and what is the car,” he said.
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Given this scenario, Albon adopted a different stance in the last three or four races. The driver began to focus his efforts exclusively on driving, leaving the engineers to take care of the car-related problems: “If you think you did a good job, you did a good job, and leave it at that,” he added.
According to him, this approach has brought positive results for his own performance in recent stages. At the same time, Williams continues to make gradual progress in trying to solve its difficulties: “As the year goes on, it’s almost like a checklist. We just tick off, fix the problems, and move on to the next,” Albon concluded.
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