It was yet another frustrating weekend for Williams’ Alex Albon, who finished at the Madring outside the points, as he took the chequered flag at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP in P15, a lap behind race winner Kimi Antonelli.
The Thai-British driver was also the sole Williams who finished the 2026 F1 Spanish GP, as teammate Carlos Sainz was forced to retire on lap 43 due to severe floor damage.
Albon reflects on 2026 F1 Spanish GP
Reflecting on his inaugural outing at the Madring, Alex Albon shared that the 2026 F1 Spanish GP was one of the better weekends for him of the season thus far from a driving point of view.
Nonetheless, pace and consistency continue to be the main two flaws of the FW48. The 30-year-old also lamented tyre degradation as another struggle he faced throughout the weekend.
“Yes, I think one of my stronger weekends, but at the same time, just super, super sketchy. Realistically, the pace isn’t quick enough and I think especially on the harder tyres, we don’t have the loads to keep the tyre alive. So that tyre has actually got very little degradation, but it just cools down once the tread comes off the tyre. You need to push on it to keep the tempers up, but we don’t have the grip to do it. Just the tyres get cold, basically. So yeah, it’s frustrating in many ways.”
Williams has fallen back on the development race
Following the Spanish GP, Williams sits P9 in the 2026 F1 Constructors’ Championship with only 11 points to their name. Speaking on the performance deficit against the majority of the midfield, Albon admitted that Williams were far behind on the development race this season.
As explained by the Thai-British driver, in an average F1 season, most midfield teams bring in around one to two major upgrade packages as performance gains are hard to come by. However, in 2026, teams like Racing Bulls, who currently lead the midfield in the standings, have already brought a total of four upgrade packages as this year has seen a massive overhaul in the regs.
However, Williams, much like Aston Martin, decided to play the upgrade game a little differently, deciding to focus on a major upgrade package in the second half of the 2026 F1 season instead. The Grove outfit’s next scheduled major upgrade package is said to come at the next round in Azerbaijan.
Nevertheless, Albon also revealed that it could be the team’s last major upgrade of the 2026 season as they plan to shift their focus to their 2027 challenger.
“We’re finishing 50 seconds behind [the top of] the midfield in the race. We’re losing a second a lap, more or less, in the race. It’s going to be a pretty big upgrade to do [that]. Let’s see.
“All we know it’s going to be a good step. Is it going to be the full step, I’m hopeful for it, but I don’t think it would be.
“Unfortunately, we said it last year, but the focus is on next year as well. We realise we’re too far back at the moment to have a couple of upgrades this year. We need to focus on next year.
“Yeah, it is. I think what’s been interesting this year is that most of the midfield teams, they always bring one or two upgrades a year. That’s kind of how it’s gone. This year, even the midfield teams, they’re bringing three or four upgrades a year. The size of the upgrades are quite huge as well. If you think of us in a normal year, Baku would have put us back to the front of the midfield. But we have to be honest with ourselves. The speed of the development race this year is huge. We’ve fallen back.”
