Azerbaijan GP: Race vindication for Williams F1 Team


By Williams F1 Team
September 27 2026

The 2026 Azerbaijan GP would prove to be a successful one for the Atlassian Williams F1 Team with Carlos Sainz finishing the race in 10th achieving a single point result. The performances not only in the race but across the whole race weekend were in large part vindication of the massive effort that the team had put in to bring an upgraded FW48 to the event. The fact that the team was able to see a qualifying Q3 result as well as the point in the race showed that the updates that had being brought were working. Yes still a way to go to develop the new car but still so pleasing to see that the team is now back in the fight with the other midfield teams. Unfortunately the only negative aspect of the race was the DNF of Alex Albon who would crash into the barriers. Next stop Sepang where all being well the team will be able to again produce some noteworthy results.

 
 Atlassian Williams F1 Team Azerbaijan GP Race Review
 
Albon
 
Albon

Alex Albon:
"It was a weird crash if I'm honest. I braked a little bit later than the previous lap and there was a big wind gust which caught us out a little bit. When I had my moment, I thought I would lock up and run a bit wide; I never thought I was going to hit the wall. We'll look at the data. In terms of the update, I think it's exactly the step we expected. It's put us in a midfield fight. If you roll back to the start of the year the car was delayed and it was overweight. We had to start a project to make a new chassis and delivered it on time and on weight and that is a huge difference to eight months ago. Hopefully now this is a turning point, and we can explore this update more in Malaysia."

 
Sainz

Carlos Sainz:
"I'm happy to get a point after yesterday’s penalty and I think the team deserved it. It was a difficult race, but we had a good restart after the safety car, doing a good job with tyre management and managed to get into the points towards the end of the race. These upgrades are a good sign of progress, but we know it’ll take a bit more to get in the points regularly. Hopefully we’ll be able to have a bit more fun fighting in the midfield for the remaining races."

 
Vowles

James Vowles, Team Principal:
"Well done to the team. It's been a mammoth effort to bring the update that we have here this weekend and it's nice to walk away with a point, a singular point, but a point all the same, in what was a very topsy-turvy weekend and race. Well done to Carlos. You can see we didn't have the pace on that first stint, and we need to dig and understand that because that was a critical part of the race where we weren't able to make progress. With Alex really well done as he held onto that starting position; just unfortunately a late brake combined with a wind gust ended his afternoon. But Carlos was there and ready to pick up points. We've got the first of a triple header done now; there’s lots to do in front of us but it's nice that we've now got a package that's at least in the mix. Let's see what we can do over the next few races."

 
Sainz
 
Albon
 
Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan Lap Length: 6.003km
Pos Driver Summary
 
P10 C Sainz • Started: P14
• Strategy: Medium, Soft
• Fastest lap: 1:46.737
DNF A Albon • Started: P12
• Strategy: Soft
• Fastest lap: 1:48.443
 
Sainz
 

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