Report: Weekend underway in São Paulo
Alex, Carlos and Luke on track for Friday practice running at Interlagos
Published
06 NOV 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
Round 20 of the 2026 Formula 1 season is underway in São Paulo, and for Atlassian Williams F1 Team, the opening hour at Interlagos saw Luke Browning complete his fourth rookie FP1 outing of the season alongside Alex Albon.
Alex started on mediums and his first time was a 1:14.398. He improved to a 1:14.259 and then took a 1:13.511 on softs. Luke’s first timed lap was a 1:15.313 on used mediums. A run on softs brought a 1:13.591, 0.080s behind Alex at that point.
Alex’s session ended on track as his FW48 cut out. He found an escape road in the final sector and used gravity to roll back to the marshal post, with the session continuing without interruption, after an earlier red flag after Freddie Slater’s Audi also came to a halt.
Alex finished FP1 in P17 with his 1:13.511 from 18 laps, while Luke was P18 on his 1:13.591 from 12 laps.
As the mist began to roll in, Carlos joined Alex for FP2 and both started on hards. Alex’s first timed lap was a 1:13.780, while Carlos set a 1:14.419.
Both then switched to softs. Carlos moved up to P12 with a 1:12.742, 0.204s behind Fernando Alonso, while Alex aborted his first push before finding a 1:12.953. “The fronts just aren’t biting,” he reported.
Carlos and Alex then headed out for race simulations, with low cloud and spots of rain arriving on the pit straight.
Our Spanish racer ended the session in P17 with his 1:12.742 from 33 laps, with Alex P19 on his 1:12.953 from 37 laps.
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."
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.”
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.”
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