Williams Racing celebrated their first double points finish of the season at the F1 Saudi Arabian GP, with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz demonstrating impressive teamwork to secure P9 and P8 respectively.
After starting from P11 due to a qualifying miscalculation, Albon gained two positions on the first lap before a safety car was deployed following an incident between Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly. The Thai driver maintained his P9 position throughout the race, benefiting significantly from a strategic move involving his teammate.
When Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar emerged from the pits behind Albon and closed within DRS range, Williams engineers instructed Sainz to drop back strategically, providing Albon with DRS to pull away from his challenger.
Teamwork preserves valuable points
“I’m really happy with how we played it,” Albon told the media after the race. “Who knows where Isack [Hadjar] would have finished if we didn’t do that. So, yeah, very happy. I think we’re doing a great job here.”
Sainz, who missed last year’s Saudi Arabian GP due to appendicitis requiring surgery, explained the tactical move. “I think it was 12, 13 laps to go, the team asked me to give the DRS to Alex to make sure Hadjar didn’t have a chance of passing us.”
The Spanish driver admitted it was a delicate manoeuvre.
“Bit of a tricky one because you always feel like it exposes you also, especially in a high-speed track where the DRS has a very big effect around here, and you always get a bit nervous about it because from there on, you cannot put a foot wrong if you do a mistake or hit a wall or whatever. But in the end, it worked.”
Sainz delivers “solid” performance with Williams after last year’s F1 Saudi Arabian GP absence
Despite a slightly slow pit stop that cost him “three or four seconds,” Sainz described his race as “solid” with “good tyre management on the medium, managing to dominate the first part of the race.” He demonstrated his true pace on the final lap, noting, “I could show my best pace. In the last lap, I pushed on a little pace, which is a really good sign. So, yeah, I’m very happy.”
Albon’s performance continues his impressive start to the season, having scored points in four of the five races thus far. “We’ve had four good finishes in five races. So, I’m really proud of that as a team,” he stated.
The Thai driver highlighted the significant progress Williams has made. “We’ve come such a long way. As I said yesterday, we came back really strongly today. It’s amazing that you can, because like in previous years, you did one mistake in the weekend, you weren’t scoring points.”
With both drivers gaining confidence in the FW47, Williams appears to be emerging as the strongest midfield team. Albon acknowledged, “We have had one of the strongest midfield cars, that’s for sure. I’m enjoying it, but we just have to be taking advantage of this situation.”
Balancing present success with future development
Looking ahead to the rest of the season and beyond, Albon remains realistic about the team’s approach to balancing development between this year’s car and preparation for the 2026 regulations.
“We’ve not gone off to a poor start, which kind of changes the dynamic of how well we want to do this season. For next, or sacrifice next season. I think we’re sticking to our guns and we want to make a big step for next year.”
The Williams team heads to Miami having already scored more points in five races than they managed throughout the entire 24-race 2024 season, largely thanks to Albon’s consistent race pace and the team’s dedicated car development.
