Mexican GP: Difficult race for Atlassian Williams F1 Team
IMAGO/Sports Press Photo
By Williams F1 Team
November 2 2026
The 2026 Mexican GP would see the Atlassian Williams F1 Team come away with Alex Albon finishing 14th and Carlos Sainz 15th. Overall it was another difficult race that, even with what seemed to be a slightly improved performance, still would not see either driver with any chance of securing a points result. Both Alex and Carlos would benefit from a Red Flag and a Safety Car period to remain in the midfield fight but as the race drew to a close the lack of pace from the FW48 would see other drivers easliy move ahead. Far from the way one would hope that the last races of the season would finish for the team. Next stop Brazil in a weeks time. Update: After post race penalties for other drivers Alex would finish 11th and Carlos 12th. So close.
| |
|
Atlassian Williams F1 Team
Mexican GP Race Review |
| |
|
IMAGO / PsnewZ
|
| |
|
Alex Albon:
"It was a solid race for us. We went for the two-stop, which
may have been the wrong call due to the lack of tyre deg, but the red
flag brought us all back into it. I had a really good restart and gained
quite a few positions, which I tried to hold onto, but eventually Isack
and Ryō overtook me. The pace was decent, all things considered, and the
car felt pretty good, so overall I’m quite happy with the weekend.
“Lastly, congratulations to Kimi. He’s driven really impressively
for someone so young, and he’s been very relaxed throughout it all. To
be so young and to be able to achieve what he's achieved, I have a lot
of respect for him. He’s clearly made a big step from last year and he’s
a new force to be reckoned with." |
| |
|
Carlos Sainz:
"First of all, well done to Kimi. He has done a great job this
season so congratulations to him and his team.
“Regarding our
Sunday, I had a good first half of the race switching to a one-stop
strategy fairly early on. It was working well and we were on the way to
maximising what we could today, but the restart was chaos and I lost
some ground. We tried to fight back on the last stint but the balance
went away from us and overheating worsened the situation. Overall, it’s
been another tough weekend, but we’ll take as many learnings as we can
from this week into Brazil and keep pushing for the races ahead." |
| |
 |
James Vowles, Team Principal:
"It’s a shame to be lacking pace, which ultimately meant we
couldn't fight for points today, but it was really great work by HPP and
the team to make sure that the high altitudes didn't impact us, and we
were able to freely race from start to finish, which is probably one of
the most difficult races for that. It was harder to overtake than
anticipated here, so, it was near enough, just about being in trains of
cars.
“Alex had an excellent restart following the red flag,
however unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to be fighting in the top 10.
We'll review all the learnings we have and come back ready to tackle the
last race of the triple header in Brazil.
“A heartfelt
congratulations to Kimi and Mercedes. He deserved this championship and
won it on merit. He did an outstanding job from start to finish. A
deserving champion, and I'm sure the first of many." |
| |
|
IMAGO / ABACAPRESS
|
| |
|
IMAGO / PsnewZ
|
|
|
|
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez,
Mexico |
Lap Length: 4.304km |
|
|
|
Pos |
Driver |
Summary |
| |
|
P14 |
A Albon |
• Started: P16
• Strategy:
Soft, medium, soft, soft
• Fastest lap: 1:21.114 |
|
P15 |
C Sainz |
• Started: P15
• Strategy:
Soft, medium, soft
• Fastest lap: 1:21.339 |
| |
|
IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire
|
| |
 |
