It was a disappointing 2026 F1 Singapore GP for Williams‘ Alex Albon, retiring on the penultimate lap but classified in P18. The Thai-British driver’s race was one characterised by persistent brake temperature issues. Nonetheless, Albon remained optimistic about the FW48’s pace at Marina Bay.
Albon reflects on pace at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP
Reflecting on his performance at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Albon shared that he was impressed by the pace of his Williams at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP as they were able to fight for positions. The Thai-British driver had started the race in P16 but was able to move up to P15 on the opening lap.
The 30-year-old was soon hit with brake temperature issues and was forced to lift and coast for the majority of the race. As a result, he lost positions to Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
“We were actually quite quick today. We were fighting other cars. The car overheated, so we couldn’t get close. So we spent 50 laps managing a gap of 4 or 5 seconds for the car in front and then we bolted to the left again.”
Surprising performance of the soft tyres
On Lap 23 of the 2026 F1 Singapore GP, Williams had called Albon in to pit for softs, becoming one of the first few drivers to swap out the medium tyres. The Thai-British driver shared his insights on the performance of the Pirelli soft compound tyres at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, reflecting that they performed “almost too good”.
According to Albon, the soft tyres performed more like hard tyres considering the number of laps he was able to do on a set of softs.
“Yeah, soft tyres were really good this race. Almost too good, actually. I think it’s not normal for the soft to be able to do the amount of laps it was able to do and be so consistent. Great tyre. It felt more like a hard tyre than a soft tyre.”
As explained by the 30-year-old, this performance from the soft tyres was a trend due to the 2026 F1 technical regulations, specifically the Straight Line Mode (SLM). Albon criticised the FIA’s safety regulation where they over-inflate the tyres as a precaution for when the SLM fails.
The increased air pressure causes the tyres to “balloon” and hence reduces the tyre degradation of the soft tyre, making it the only viable tyre.
However, Albon also reflected that he would rather scrap this regulation, as he shared, “If your SLM’s broken you might as well stop the race anyway.
“A little bit, yeah. For sure. I think what you’re seeing are these rear pressures that have balloons. At the moment it just feels like the softer tyre has more grip, so you control the surface temperature a bit better. I’m hoping the reason why they’ve done this is because of SLM rules and whatnot but I’d rather we just get rid of it because of the SLM stuff. If your SLM’s broken you might as well stop the race anyway.”
Main issues faced at the Marina Bay Street Circuit
Reflecting on the issues his Williams faced at the 2026 F1 Singapore GP, Albon admitted he faced: “Mostly a brake [issue]. More brake than fuel, but both.“
He highlighted how his Williams faced ” heat soak”, which led to the brake temperature troubles he faced for the majority of the race. As a result, he had to aggressively lift-and-coast for most of the race.
“Obviously it applies for us too. Maybe the close racing at the beginning of the race. I think we got into heat soak and we accelerated the brake wear. I was lifting and coasting 250-300 metres. When you like LICO you harvest. All fun and games.”
Physical check-in following the 2026 F1 Singapore GP
The 2026 F1 Singapore GP is notorious for causing drivers extreme physical exhaustion and severe dehydration due to high temperature and humidity. However, Albon revealed after the race that he felt ” very good”, praising Williams’ cooling system setup.
The Thai-British driver even joked that, considering all the issues Williams faced this season, he is glad the team was able to deliver a highly effective system.
“Very good, actually. I have to say as a team, we’ve really done a good job with our cooling suit. My cooling suit wasn’t working for the first 10 laps and I thought it was going to be a long race. Then it turned on and it was very comfortable. I know a lot of drivers are against it and some teams can’t make it work. With all the issues we’ve got this year our cooling suit is the best on the grid so I’m quite happy with it.”
