Miami GP: Positive Sprint & Qualifying for Williams F1


By Williams F1 Team
May 3 2026

Despite not achieving any points results the Atlassian Williams F1 Team would still come away feeling positive about the results from both the Sprint and qualifying for the 2026 Miami GP. The Sprint would see Carlos Sainz finish 13th while Alex Albon was 18th. Both drivers would show some decent pace in the opening stgaes but later in the race the team would switch Alex to further testing various front wing setups as it was not going to effect his ultimate result. This was very similar to what the team did in Japan with Alex. Qualiyfing would see Carlos finish 14th while Alex was 16th. Like Carlos who suffered from deployment issues in the Sprint Alex would suffer the same issues in qualifying. These sorts of issues the team needs to get on top of quickly. But even so it was good to see an overall positive performance from the team coming off the difficulties of the opening three races.

 
 Atlassian Williams F1 Team Miami GP Sprint - Qualifying
 
Albon
 
Sainz

Carlos Sainz:
"We were only 0.1s off P11, so it’s clear this Miami upgrade is a positive step for the team. We’re still getting to grips with the new package, and our execution has room for improvement, so there was some laptime left on the table. Tomorrow, we should be able to have some fun in the midfield and possibly be in reach of the points if the weather mixes things up.

“Lastly, it’s been sad to hear about the passing of Alex Zanardi today. He kept his sporting passion intact despite so many obstacles and he deserves a lot of respect and admiration from the motorsport community. My thoughts are with his friends and family."
Albon

Alex Albon:
"In the Sprint race today, we had decent pace but ultimately we decided to pit and trial out some options with the front wing to learn more ahead of qualifying. The upgrades the team has worked tirelessly on have us in a more competitive place and we need to continue to make steps forward. In qualifying, we had inconsistency with deployment combined with some traffic, so I started my lap on the back foot. Overall, we have a better car and good race pace for tomorrow, and the weather forecast for the race could also shake things up so we’ll see what tomorrow brings."
 
Vowles

James Vowles Team Principal:
"If we got everything perfect today, Carlos could’ve been P11 but Q3 wasn’t possible.

For Alex, we have been suffering from inconsistency on speed across the start/finish line; there is a lot we’re asking the drivers to do to get everything prepared down the back straight, with a sequence of actions needed to get everything spot on. When you do that, the performance differential can be extreme. In the case of Alex, he had some traffic and with a minor change in throttle application, this meant that he started the lap losing a few tenths, which cost him the position to where he should’ve been.

Regardless, it’s good to see the gaps are closer. This is the first step in fighting back to the front of the midfield. We’ve started from a long way back but there’s some good performance coming across the remainder of the season and with Carlos, Alex and the team, I’m confident we won’t stop fighting for points on every occasion that comes our way."
 
Sainz
 
Track: Miami International Autodrome, USA Lap Length:  5.412km
Sprint Race
C Sainz • Finished: P13
• Started: P14
• Strategy: Medium
• Fastest lap: 1:34.008
A Albon • Finished: P18
• Started: P18
• Strategy: Medium, used Medium
• Fastest lap: 1:33.473
 
Grand Prix Qualifying
C Sainz • Finished: P14
• Q1: 1:29.540
• Q2: 1:29.568
A Albon • Finished: P16
• Q1: 1:29.720
• Q2: 1:29.946
 
Albon
 
Sainz
 

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