Report: P14 and P15 at the Mexico City GP
Alex finished P14 and Carlos P15 after a Mexico City GP featuring one Virtual Safety Car, two Safety Cars and a red flag
Published
01 NOV 2026
Est. reading time
4 min
In a Mexico City Grand Prix with plenty of attrition, both Atlassian Williams F1 Team cars saw the finish in P14 and P15.
Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz both took the start on fresh softs at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, but it was a hectic opening lap. Carlos was forced wide at turn 3 and dropped to P16, while Alex was P15 as the field settled.
A Virtual Safety Car early on, for Lance Stroll’s stricken Aston Martin, brought a brief pause, and with the race back underway the pair ran nose to tail in the early laps, with Alex eyeing up Sergio Perez in the straight mode zones. The two Williams cars gained a place each on lap 19 as Pierre Gasly pitted, before Alex made his first stop a lap later for a fresh set of softs.
He rejoined P20, but took roughly a second a lap out of Valtteri Bottas ahead and passed him on lap 24 to recover to P19. Carlos, meanwhile, was holding P14 on 23-lap-old softs when Isack Hadjar came through at turn 1 on lap 26, with Gasly following the next lap. Liam Lawson added to the pressure on lap 31, but a stop by Perez kept Carlos in P16.
Carlos’ own stop on Lap 36 brought mediums and a good overcut on Perez. Alex followed on Lap 41 for a second set of softs after a consistent stint, rejoining P19.
The race changed on Lap 44, when Bottas hit the wall at turn 1 with a suspension failure at the end of the long straight. The Safety Car was deployed, and then a red flag as the barriers needed repairs. Thankfully Valtteri was able to get out of the car under his own steam.
The team took fresh softs for Carlos and four-lap-old softs for Alex ahead of a standing restart.
Alex made the most of it. After taking the restart from P19, he was up to P13 on lap 47, a gain of six places in one go. Carlos, from P16, was passed by Hadjar at Turn 12 on lap 48.
Then Arvid Lindblad hit in the barriers after a collision with Oscar Piastri at turn 2 on lap 59, bringing out a second Safety Car, and with Ryo Hirakawa, Nico Hulkenberg and Perez all pitting behind, Alex was up to P12 and Carlos P14.
The final restart brought Hadjar back past Alex on lap 63. Carlos was losing straight-line pace in the closing laps, with the team investigating, and Hirakawa passed him at turn 1 on lap 67. With fresher tyres, he then did the same to Alex at turn 2 on Lap 70, and our pair took the flag in P14 and P15.
James Vowles, Team Principal:
“It’s a shame to be lacking pace, which ultimately meant we couldn't fight for points today, but it was really great work by HPP and the team to make sure that the high altitudes didn't impact us, and we were able to freely race from start to finish, which is probably one of the most difficult races for that. It was harder to overtake than anticipated here, so, it was near enough, just about being in trains of cars.
“Alex had an excellent restart following the red flag, however unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to be fighting in the top 10. We'll review all the learnings we have and come back ready to tackle the last race of the triple header in Brazil.
“A heartfelt congratulations to Kimi and Mercedes. He deserved this championship and won it on merit. He did an outstanding job from start to finish. A deserving champion, and I'm sure the first of many.”
Alex Albon:
“It was a solid race for us. We went for the two-stop, which may have been the wrong call due to the lack of tyre deg, but the red flag brought us all back into it. I had a really good restart and gained quite a few positions, which I tried to hold onto, but eventually Isack and Ryō overtook me. The pace was decent, all things considered, and the car felt pretty good, so overall I’m quite happy with the weekend.
“Lastly, congratulations to Kimi. He’s driven really impressively for someone so young, and he’s been very relaxed throughout it all. To be so young and to be able to achieve what he's achieved, I have a lot of respect for him. He’s clearly made a big step from last year and he’s a new force to be reckoned with.”
Carlos Sainz:
“First of all, well done to Kimi. He has done a great job this season so congratulations to him and his team.
“Regarding our Sunday, I had a good first half of the race switching to a one-stop strategy fairly early on. It was working well and we were on the way to maximising what we could today, but the restart was chaos and I lost some ground. We tried to fight back on the last stint but the balance went away from us and overheating worsened the situation. Overall, it’s been another tough weekend, but we’ll take as many learnings as we can from this week into Brazil and keep pushing for the races ahead.”
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