Williams now “in a lonely race” after "painful" 2026 start

Alex Albon described Williams’ Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix as “painful” and admits it’s in the midst of a “lonely race” as it lags “at least half a second” from the midfield fight.

Williams came into the new year off the back of its best season in a decade in 2025, as it stormed to fifth in the constructors’ standings to lead the midfield battle.

But 2026 has been difficult so far for the British team, who missed the Barcelona shakedown due to production delays, and started the new campaign with a car over the minimum weight limit.

After qualifying seven tenths away from a Q3 spot in 15th, Alex Albon was Williams’ leading driver at the chequered flag in the Australian Grand Prix, albeit a lap down in 12th.

‘We’ve been here before’ with Williams

Speaking on his race, Albon noted that the weight problems with the car are pegging it back, but also feels it’s not strong aerodynamically either.

“I mean, how far did we finish off the Haas, like 40 seconds or something? It is painful, for sure,” he said in response to a question from Crash.net.

“I think it’s a difference to 12 months ago. There’s a lonely race.

“Realistically, we’re not really in the midfield fight, and we’re in front of the Aston and the Cadillac.

“So, we’re a little bit by ourselves. We need to find at least half a second to start thinking about being part of that midfield fight.

“We know where all of that lap time is and we need to get the car on a diet as quick as we can.

“That being said, it’s not just weight. There’s performance as well, there’s downforce that we’re missing.

“We could see that from qualifying very clearly against cars like Mercedes just how much we are lacking in the high-speed corners around here.

“We’re graining very easily in the race. I’m not sure how people were making the one-stop work.

“I think that’s also partly not having downforce. So, it’s been a very tough weekend. I don’t think China’s going to be any easier and we need to see what we can do for the next races.”

Albon is confident Williams can work its way out of this situation, having gone through something similar in 2022.

“This is no worse than in 2022,” he added.

“So, it is painful; we’ve been in this position before, we’ve turned it around before.

“It’s not like we don’t know where the lap time is.

“Even if you take the base of the car that we have, which we’re not happy with, it’s still a good midfield car if it was where it should be in terms of weight.

“So, it’s not that we take solace in that, but we know that it’s not doom and gloom, and there is a positive end to this. It’s just about making it happen.”