After assessing the upcoming upgrades for the 2026 F1 Canadian GP earlier in May, Williams Team Principal James Vowles now talked about the team’s step forward in the car’s performance. Despite a chaotic weekend in Montréal, after which the team remains in 8th place in the Constructors’ Championship, Vowles emphasised that the team is successfully moving up the grid.
Vowles breaks down Albon’s weekend and his progress
Alex Albon endured a difficult weekend at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP that began with a costly setback during Friday’s practice session. The team principal explained that a high-speed collision with a marmot caused significant structural damage to the car.
He noted that this completely halted Albon’s FP1 session, severely limiting his track time and leaving him one lap behind his teammate Carlos Sainz in terms of learning ahead of the Sprint Qualifying.
Despite the initial disadvantage, Vowles highlighted Albon’s impressive adaptability. He acknowledged that the driver maintained a strong pace and progressed continuously throughout the weekend.
However, another collision with Oscar Piastri caused extensive damage again and forced Albon to retire from the race early. Nonetheless, Vowles highlighted Albon’s underlying pace which proved that both driver and car made immense progress.
”It’s great to see that across Miami and Canada we’ve added performance and it is making a tangible difference. We are moving up the field. Carlos was able in the Sprint qualifying to qualify into that top 10 position. And our car pace was very strong in the race.
”With Alex it was a difficult weekend. He had an issue on Friday where he made contact with a marmot and it was fairly significant damage. That also meant he wasn’t able to complete and finish the FP1 session and put him on the back foot. As he went through sprint race he learnt a huge amount. Sprint qualifying, his laps were good but you could see he was just one lap behind where Carlos was in terms of learning. And unable to qualify where he could in terms of car performance. The race, again, strong pace and he was performing very well until unfortunately taken out by Piastri who just came from too far back.
”And the damage was again extensive. Now his car pace was good and that’s obviously one of the most important aspects. That means we developed the car, that means also he himself made progress despite the difficult weekend.”
Vowles praises Sainz’s resilient 2026 F1 Williams fightback
Vowles also pointed to Carlos Sainz’s early sessions as proof of the car’s improved performance.
The Spaniard was able to navigate through to SQ3 at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP, putting him in P10 for the Sprint, where he also finished. However, the race presented a much tougher challenge after a difficult qualifying session on Saturday left Sainz in P15 for the race.
The most critical moment of the weekend arrived before the race started. Vowles explained that unpredictable weather conditions hit the circuit while the cars sat on the grid. He revealed that an early gamble to start on inters did not pay off.
Vowles admitted that the Williams team initially viewed the rain as a good opportunity to maximise their strategy to get through the midfield at the 2026 F1 Canadian GP. However, the track radar proved inaccurate, making it difficult to predict future rain and the track dried much quicker than anticipated.
“In the case of Carlos, it was very difficult conditions when we were sat on the real grid and the rain came down. Both drivers did laps to grid. In the case of both, we switched the slick early on and Carlos just felt it was very difficult to get the temperature into it.
”And as that rain fell, it may be, may be an opportunity being P15 on the grid to maximise and just get up ahead. It may even be possible in those really damp conditions to find 10 seconds pretty quickly on just that opening lap. Now the reality behind it was the conditions started to dry quicker than anticipated.”
Vowles explained that they had to make a decision between pitting immediately during the formation phase or staying put to preserve a short-term advantage.
Nevertheless, the Team Principal praised Sainz for his brilliant job managing his track position and fighting his way back through the order.
Vowles also explained that the pit wall reacted quickly during the VSC, switching Sainz onto medium tyres which allowed him to push through and secure P9.
”The radar wasn’t entirely accurate and it was hard to know whether there was more rain coming in. But at the point where the rain stopped, that was the point where we knew it was going to transition quickly.
”You’ve got two choices. Do you come straight away in under one of those formation laps? Or do you stay out and try and maximise at least some of the benefit that you’ve had as the result of it? Now the decisions we made weren’t right or perfect at all.
”What I am pleased about though is despite all of that, when we stopped Carlos, he did an absolutely brilliant job fighting back up to the order. Taking that opportunity later on with the VSC to take the medium tyres to the end of the race and scoring valuable points for the team.”
