Alex and Carlos ready for the Temple of Speed
Alex and Carlos head to Monza as the European leg of the season nears its end
Published
03 SEP 2026
Est. reading time
2 min
The 2026 Formula 1 season continues this weekend as Atlassian Williams F1 Team heads to Monza for Round 13 of the championship.
The Italian Grand Prix also marks the start of a double header, with the team heading straight from Monza to Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix next weekend.
Following the opening race of the second half of the season in Zandvoort, the team will be looking to build on the learnings from the Dutch Grand Prix as the European leg of the calendar begins to near its end.
Carlos Sainz is looking forward to returning to one of his favourite races of the season, with the Italian Grand Prix bringing back plenty of good memories.
"Monza has always been one of my favourite races of the season. This circuit and the Italian fans are very special to me, and I have a lot of good memories here, so it will be good to be back on track this weekend. It's a challenging layout for this new era of regulations, especially for energy management and tyre temperatures, so we'll need to get up to speed quickly through free practice. We've had some tough weekends recently, and the target now is to bring those learnings to Monza and execute the best possible weekend."
Alex Albon is also looking forward to the high-speed Italian venue, while Luke Browning will take his place in the FW48 for FP1.
"Monza is always a special weekend - it’s incredibly fast, the atmosphere is amazing, and so is the Italian food! The long straights and heavy braking zones make finding the right setup really important, while energy management will also be key with the 2026 regs. Luke will be in my car for FP1, so it’ll be important to make the most of the rest of the weekend."
Think you could be a strategist?
Prove it in our free game and lock in your answers before Saturday! Climb the global leaderboard, or join private and public groups!
Play Now
Earn WClub points
Latest
Trending
© 2026 The Williams Group, under licence to Williams IP Holdings LLC
Williams Grand Prix Engineering Services LLP, a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with company registration number OC456938 and whose registered address is at Station Road, Grove, Wantage, Oxfordshire, OX12 0DQ.
Powered By