Report: Penultimate race of the European leg complete
Carlos Sainz brought the FW48 home in P13, while Alex Albon finished P17 after starting from the back of the field
Published
06 SEP 2026
Est. reading time
2 min
Race day at the Temple of Speed began with early drama after an initially clean start, Carlos Sainz was briefly up to P11 on the opening lap, before falling back to P16, with Alex Albon up to P18.
However the race was brought to an early halt on lap 3 when Charles Leclerc had a big off at Parabolica, bringing out the Safety Car and then a red flag as the barrier needed a full rebuild. Thankfully the Ferrari driver was able to walk away from the incident, whilst the rest of the field returned to the pit lane
After the first standing restart was aborted, the race got back underway around 15:45 local time and settled into a steady rhythm from there for both Atlassian Williams F1 Team cars.
Carlos and Alex both fitted new hard tyres under the red flag and had a quiet middle stint. A Virtual Safety Car on lap 28, deployed for Lance Stroll's stoppage, gave the team the chance to bring Carlos in for fresh mediums while Alex stayed out.
Alex's afternoon took a tougher turn as his hard tyres wore on. He reported a lack of front-end grip, and as a result, Nico Hulkenberg found a way past.
With Carlos forecast to catch his team-mate in the closing stages, the team asked Alex to swap positions before he pulled in for fresh softs on lap 47.
Carlos made the most of the clear track ahead, gaining on and eventually picking off Ollie Bearman around Curva Grande with three laps to go to move up to P13, eventually crossing the line there. Alex found himself a lap down behind the battling McLarens in the closing stages and brought the car home in P17.
All eyes now turn to Carlos’ home race and our first outing at the Madring for the Spanish Grand Prix next weekend.
Full reaction to follow.
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