Williams failed to score points at the 2026 Italian Grand Prix of Formula 1, held this Sunday (6), but left Monza with a positive assessment of the race pace. Carlos Sainz finished 13th, while Alexander Albon was 17th.
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Sainz managed to gain positions at the start and then took advantage of the virtual safety car stop to put on medium tires. With good pace in the final laps, the Spaniard overtook Ollie Bearman’s Haas and secured 13th place.
“First of all, I’m happy to see Charles unscathed after such a serious accident. On our side, we executed a good race today and a strong weekend overall, given our limitations. We had a solid qualifying yesterday and a good start and race pace today. The stop under the VSC put us ahead of Ocon with an excellent tire change by our mechanics, and the good pace allowed us to overtake Bearman at the end. I’m very much looking forward to the weekend in Madrid,” concluded the Spaniard.
Albon had more difficulties with the wear of the hard tires and lost performance in the final laps. Even so, the Thai driver highlighted that the pace was better than in recent races: “We tried to do a long stint and survive with a set of hard tires after the red flag, but inevitably we had degradation at the end of the race. It was worth the risk to try. The race pace was the best we’ve had in some time, due to the new power unit we put in this weekend, but that also shows what we have below us and what we need to do to get where we want.”
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James Vowles, team principal, also considered that Williams showed important signs during the race, although he regretted the positions lost before the restart.
“It was good to see that we had a bit of pace in the race to climb up the grid. We lost some positions in the first laps before the restart, which may have been costly for our ability to score points today. But definitely, more signs emerged from the race about where we need to look, and we are working hard and diligently to continue finding performance.”
Now, the team turns its attention to Madrid, where the Spanish Grand Prix will be held next weekend.
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