Report: Montreal Saturday complete

Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon took on Sprint and qualifying in Canada

Published

22 MAY 2026

Est. reading time

2 min

Canada staged its first Sprint on a busy day of competitive action for Atlassian Williams Formula 1 Team at the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve.

Carlos Sainz took his FW48 to P10 in the 23-lap run, while Alex crossed the line P19 after taking a pit stop late in the race.

Later, qualifying saw a P15 starting slot for Carlos after reaching Q2, with Alex set to start the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix in P18 after his efforts.

Sprint began with Carlos’ P10 spot seeing him on the tail of Arvid Lindblad through the opening corners, but unable to pass and settling in a gap behind.

A pit lane start for Alex in Sprint meant he would have a challenging time making headway up the order, but he was one of five cars to begin Sprint away from the grid.

Isack Hadjar’s mechanical problem dropped the Red Bull driver from the upper positions to promote both cars up.

For Carlos, though, that P9 running on the edge of the points did not last long, with Franco Colapinto fighting by on the run to Turn 13.

The same spot was where Alex had made some gains, overtaking Valtteri Bottas and then Fernando Alonso to reach P18 before taking a pit stop in the closing laps.

Without any other opportunities to make overtakes, P10 was as far as Carlos could make it, while Alex returned to P19 after Alpine also opted to pit Pierre Gasly before the chequered flag.

Qualifying saw our pilots using two laps to prepare their cars before pushing, but there would only be one Williams making it to Q2.

Although Alex reached P13 when he set his best 1:14.851 time, he could not improve on the last run to avoid the drop zone, ending his day in P18.

Carlos was six-tenths faster, and the tight midfield had his 1:14.276 sitting in P10 and through to Q2.

However, that was as far as the Spaniard would go in qualifying. A best lap of 1:14.273 was not enough to reach the top-10 positions, and Carlos exited qualifying in P15.

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