Barcelona GP: Messy Friday for Williams F1 Team

By Williams F1 Team
June 13 2026

Friday practice for the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya GP was a day where the Atlassian Williams F1 Team would have to contend with several issues the first of these been the total lack of running by Academy driver Luke Browning in FP1. Luke was meant to run in the session replacing Alex Abon but due to an electrical issue he would not complete a single lap. Such a disappointing way to see the team start the weekend. Then in FP2 with the return of Alex both he and Carlos sainz would struggle with a car that was again showing its shortcomings on the Barcelona circuit. It was so tough for Alex that at one stage he asked to pit to try and sort out his lack of performance. By the end of FP2 we would only see Carlos 14th and Alex 19th. Overall a very messy day for the team which hopefully they can sort out overnight and come back with a better Saturday.


Williams F1 Team Barcelona-Catalunya GP Friday Practice Review



	Carlos Sainz: "A very tricky Friday. We know that this track exposes the weaknesses of this car, and over one lap, our pace is about where we expected to be in relation to the midfield. On long runs with high fuel we are significantly off the pace. All teams are struggling with degradation given the rough track surface and high temperatures, but we seem to be struggling more, which makes tyre management a challenge. There’s lots to look at overnight to get us in a stronger position for qualifying, so our focus will be on maximising the package we have in these conditions."

	Sven Smeets, Sporting Director: "A very messy day. Disappointing for Luke to miss FP1 with an electrical problem because we were looking forward to seeing him around Barcelona and because we didn’t get any learning from it, but happy that he has a session next time in Austria for him to get straight back into it. In FP2 we did a full run plan for both drivers but we still have some work to do, particularly on high fuel loads and with tyre degradation. There will be lots to do at the factory overnight but we have a good idea of the direction we want to go in and what we want to focus on tomorrow."

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain \| 4.657km

Driver	FP1	FP2
C. Sainz	P13 \| 1:18.293 \| 27 Laps	P14 \| 1:17.020 \| 29 Laps
L. Browning	No Running	-
A. Albon	-	P19 \| 1:18.790 \| 29 Laps