REPORT: Double DNF in Austria

Atlassian Williams Racing leave Spielberg without any points after our race concluded on Lap 16 in the 2025 Austrian GP.

Alex Albon retired shortly after pitting from the top-10 positions after an encouraging early stint, while Carlos Sainz failed to make the start when his car could not get away on the formation lap.

The formation lap began with the first 18 cars launching from their grid box without issue, but Carlos did not progress from his P19 slot.

Stuck in first gear, the entire grid almost made it back to the start-finish straight before Carlos reset his FW47 and began his tour of Spielberg.

An aborted start delayed lights out, and Carlos had returned to the pit lane when he ended his formation lap, but would go no further.

With the race underway, Alex avoided a multi-car collision at Turn 3, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli hitting Max Verstappen, letting Albono jump from his P12 start to P7.

The resulting Safety Car had our remaining car behind Pierre Gasly's Alpine, and the French driver was put under pressure as soon as racing resumed.

Alex made a decisive move up the inside of Gasly as the Alpine's Soft tyres faded while the No23's Mediums provided better grip.

We boxed on Lap 14 for a second set of yellow-ringed rubber, emerging back on track in P13, but a second trip to the pits soon followed as Alex retired from the race.

"A very frustrating and disappointing day," is how Alex summed up his race.

"We had a great start; we were a bit fortunate as the waves parted for us, but we were in the right place at the right time, had a good car, executed a nice overtake on Pierre [Gasly] and were pulling away from the cars behind.

"Then we ran into this issue which looks similar to the one in Canada, but we need to review it.

"We've had three DNFs in a row and it's the same car as it was at the beginning of the year, so we need to investigate why it was more reliable then.

"It's possibly the temperatures that we're running at, but it is in the races that we are suffering.

"We can't afford for it to happen at Silverstone as that's a good track for us and we've missed out on points today, so we need to deep dive and find a solution."

Carlos echoed Alex's thoughts and said, "Too many issues yesterday, too many issues today.

"This weekend I couldn’t show the true pace that I know we had and that leaves me frustrated.

"However, it’s time to stay focused and work even harder as a team to learn from this tricky period and bounce back.

"I’m fully confident that if we manage to execute clean weekends, better results will come soon.

"Up next is our home race at Silverstone, so let’s keep pushing to make the most out of it!"

James Vowles, Atlassian Williams Racing's Team Principal, shared his post-race assessment:

"A very disappointing day. We had the pace today to comfortably finish sixth, and yet we walk away with a double DNF.

"We had two different issues that need to be understood to make sure we rectify them going forward.

"We’re on a good journey towards building a fast car but we're not complete yet in terms of operation and reliability.

"We 13 races in front of us this season and they're key races to build this muscle and this capability to make sure that, as we move up the grid and we get faster and faster, we're able to fight at the front with the very best."