Report: P14 and P18 at the Singapore GP
Carlos Sainz crossed the line in P14 whilst Alex Albon was classified in P18 after retiring on the penultimate lap
Published
11 OCT 2026
Est. reading time
2 min
The first of three long-haul triple headers to complete the 2026 season ended with a difficult race for Atlassian Williams F1 Team in Singapore.
Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon both made strong starts at Marina Bay, but the Williams pair were unable to hold on to those early gains as the Singapore Grand Prix settled into a long, demanding afternoon.
Carlos started P13 and made a great getaway scrapping four-wide into turn 1, jumping to P10 on the opening lap. Alex, starting P16, also moved forward, climbed to P15.
The pace to stay there wasn’t available, though. Carlos found himself under pressure from the Haas cars behind, with Oliver Bearman making a move at turn 8 on lap 5 and Esteban Ocon following on the next lap to drop Carlos to P12. A Virtual Safety Car for Gabriel Bortoleto’s stop on lap 8 neutralised the action briefly, but George Russell, who had started at the back of the grid, was soon on the scene and passed Carlos on lap 13 after a multi-lap defence. Carlos chose to protect his tyre life instead of fighting on.
Carlos goes around the outside of three other cars at lights out
Alex’s race was dominated by a different problem. Brake temperatures were a concern from early on, and the team had to ask for a significant amount of management throughout the evening. With his car unable to push, Alex lost places to Russell on lap 5 and Isack Hadjar on lap 12. He came in on lap 23 for softs, rejoining P19, before the team called him back in for a second stop for another set of softs later in the race.
Carlos made his first stop on lap 32, swapping softs for mediums and rejoining P15, before regaining places as others pitted. Hadjar passed him at turn 8 on lap 36, but Fernando Alonso’s stop on lap 37 handed the position back, and Carlos was P14 with Alex P16 behind him.
From there, Carlos produced a strong second stint. Arvid Lindblad closed to within a second on lap 44, but Carlos held firm and gradually built a gap over the final tours to take the flag in P14.
Alex continued to do plenty of management through the second half of the race, with blue flags and temperatures forcing him to back off more than once. He closed to within 0.8s of Alonso on lap 47, but was never able to make a move stick.
With the car temperatures continuing to rise, the team called him into the pits at the end of what would have been his penultimate lap, bringing his race to a close. He is classified in P18, ahead of the final finisher, Valtteri Bottas.
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