REPORT: More Points in Imola

Atlassian Williams Racing continued the point-scoring results of 2025 by finishing P5 and P8 in the Emilia-Romagna GP to begin the European season with 14 points.

In a sign of how far the team has come since his arrival, Alex Albon could even feel disappointed not to leave Italy with silverware.

Albono ran in the upper positions during the race, eventually crossing the line in P5, with Carlos Sainz speeding to a P8 after an early pit stop.

After the high degradation of the C6 tyre, choosing the right strategy for what is usually a one-stop race was the question for the early laps.

Alex and Carlos started on the medium Pirelli, and the two maintained their P6 and P7 starting positions through the opening lap.

Carlos looked faster than Fernando Alonso ahead, but the Imola circuit lived up to its tough-to-pass reputation with the cars heavy with fuel.

The team instead chose to pit the lead Williams on Lap 11 to try and undercut the Aston Martin while letting Alex go for a longer first stint.

With George Russell also stopping alongside Carlos and Alonso boxing one lap later, the trio dropped to the lower positions and gave Alex free air to push.

Alonso avoided the undercut, but Carlos still got by his compatriot and soon ran close to Russell's rear wing as the FW47 excelled on the classic, twisty track.

One fewer car for Alex to worry about ahead put our No23 up to P3 after Oscar Piastri finished, and that decision to stay out soon proved pivotal.

A Virtual Safety Car slowdown to recover Esteban Ocon's Haas allowed Alex a cheap pit stop, and he returned to the track in P3 without needing to stop, with Carlos electing to get a new set of rubber too.

The duo kept their speed up, with Carlos beginning an overtaking flurry and Alex staying close to the frontrunners' pace.

Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, and Nico Hulkenberg all fell to the FW47 as Carlos sped by with DRS into Tamburello. Alex, meanwhile, fell behind Piastri as the McLaren exercised its championship-leading pace.

Another retirement, this time for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, turned the race upside down with a full Safety Car slowdown.

We split our strategy by stopping Alex and leaving Carlos out, who advanced to P8 as Isack Hadjar pitted and Antonelli retired.

The restart saw Alex use his fresh tyre advantage to attack Charles Leclerc, who got by during Albono's second stop, but wasn't left the space to pass at Tamburello and fell behind Lewis Hamilton after a trip through the gravel.

Ferrari instructed the Monegasque to let Alex by on the final lap, and he crossed the line in P5, with Carlos easily keeping his ageing tyres working to the chequered flag for a P8 finish.

"I’m very happy," Alex shared after the race. "P4 was possible today if the Safety Car didn’t come out at the end or if you take away the Charles incident, but I’m not going to say I’m disappointed with P5!

"When I look at the battle with Charles, I would probably have done the same; it wasn’t that crazy, he was just trying to hold his position, but then I lost out to Lewis. Maybe I could have been a bit more patient with my overtake of Charles, but at that point in the race I was feeling so good that I was thinking: ‘Oscar is up ahead on worn tyres, maybe I could go after him!’

"I’m still very happy with the race; on pure pace we were running P4, P5, so we were able to extend the first stint and that set us up for the whole race. The consistent pace we’re showing opens up the window for what else we can do, so let’s keep going and enjoying it."

"Obviously I’m disappointed right now after another weekend where we had good pace and I felt really good all weekend, but for one reason or the other, we don’t seem to catch a break on Sundays," Carlos reflected after his afternoon.

"It hurts to miss a top five finish on a day that we were quicker than Mercedes and Ferrari. In hindsight, stopping early and then the VSC compromised our result.

"We need to keep making steps forward on communicating better during the race and I know better days will come, I have no doubt about it. We keep pushing team! On to Monaco!"

"Really great result for the team today with another double points finish, and yet there is still some disappointment as there was more available to us," James Vowles concluded.

"But we’ve been fast all year long and we are progressing relative to some giants; we were running on genuine merit up in a podium position. Alex executed an absolutely mega drive.

"I was on the edge of my seat watching him fighting against the Ferraris. He came off on the worst end, although he did get ahead of one of them by the end. I’m proud of what he’s achieved and how he raced today.

"It’s a shame with Carlos; it was a very tricky call in the beginning and we didn’t get it right, but it will be his day and we will get him up into the right positions - we win and lose together."