Brazilian GP: Tricky Friday for Atlassian Williams F1 Team


By Williams F1 Team
November 7 2026

Friday practice for the 2026 Brazilian GP would see the Atlassian Williams F1 Team finish FP2 with Carlos Sainz 17th and Alex Albon 19th. Carlos would not run in FP1 being replaced by reserve driver Luke Browning. FP1 would see Luke finish 17th after a limited run plan. Overall both Carlos and Alex would describe their Friday's as tricky with both having to cope with a far from satisfactory balance in their cars as well as having to contend with low temperatures. Again it was a day that saw the team focus on development work for the 2027 car.

 
 Atlassian Williams F1 Team Brazilian GP Friday Practice Review
 
Browning
 

 

Luke Browning:
"That is FP1 done and dusted here in Brazil. We had a shorter run plan today which limited our mileage but I’m looking forward to debriefing and taking the information gathered back to the team in Grove. That was my fourth and final FP1 session of the year, it’s been great to get more experience in an F1 car, and to drive this challenging track for the first time. I’m looking forward to watching Alex and Carlos for the rest of the weekend and helping the team in any way that I can."
 

Sainz

Carlos Sainz:
"Missing FP1 is never ideal, but Luke did a good job during this mileage-limited weekend. It was a tricky FP2 with low temperatures and cold tyres, so it took a bit of time to get used to that. By the end of the session, I managed to get into a rhythm and did an okay lap on the soft and a decent long run. We are experimenting with setup and doing some correlation work which will help get us in a good position for next year. The weather could bring some opportunities tomorrow."
 
Albon

Alex Albon:
"We’re trying to find the middle ground with the car, and sometimes the car has felt good and other times there’s a lot of work to do. We haven't quite found the balance yet, so it's been tricky out there. We'll use the rest of the weekend as an opportunity to come up with some ideas and look at where we can improve."
 
Albon
 
Browning
 
Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Brazil | 4.309km
 
Driver   FP1 FP2
C. Sainz - P17 | 1:12.742 | 33 Laps
L. Browning P17 | 1:13.591 | 12 Laps -
A. Albon P16 | 1:13.511 | 18 Laps P19 | 1:12.953 | 37 Laps
 
Sainz
 

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