Williams managed to put Carlos Sainz in a better position on the grid for the 2026 Italian GP thanks to a strategy in Monza. Even without enough pace to fight for the top positions, the team worked to maximize the result of this Saturday’s (5) qualifying and will see the Spaniard start 13th.
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The main help came from Alex Albon. Already knowing he would start at the back of the grid due to an engine penalty, the Thai used Q1 to slipstream Sainz on the long straights of the circuit.
“We tested some things yesterday and this morning, which put the car in a better condition. We did everything we could today and maximized the result. A clean lap in Q1 and a good lap in Q2 to stay ahead of Ocon — that means I will start 13th tomorrow. Let’s see what we can do from there,” said Sainz.
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For James Vowles, team principal, Williams’ performance is still limited in key parts of the track: “The session was executed as best as we could; that was fundamentally the performance level of our car. We are losing performance in the two Lesmos and the Parabolica, and we couldn’t get the car into a good enough condition this weekend. Thanks to Alex, who fulfilled the team role by providing the slipstream for Carlos. We have engine penalties with him, so anyway, there was nothing we could do today that would change his final grid position tomorrow. Carlos got everything we could out of the car, and that just shows the difference we need to work on reducing. Congratulations to Pierre — a really fast lap and it’s great to see him taking pole.”
Albon also highlighted that the slipstream will be important during the race and believes the good engine power on the straights can help Williams gain positions: “We knew we would start at the back of the grid because of the engine penalty, so today’s plan was to fulfill the team role and help Carlos reach Q2. Power delivery and slipstream are very important, so staying in sequence will be key tomorrow to gain positions. The pace was reasonable, although we are still behind the midfield pack, but the engine is strong on the straights. The F2 and F3 races had some dramatic moments, so I hope we have a bit of chaos to play in our favor tomorrow. The focus now is really on the race and, hopefully, we can fight in the midfield pack.”
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