Williams Shows Promise During Canadian GP Practices
Montreal, Canada – Williams Racing demonstrated improved performance during Friday’s practice sessions at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz securing notable positions on the timing sheets.
In Practice 1, Albon finished second, followed by Sainz in third. The duo maintained strong placements in Practice 2, with Albon fourth and Sainz seventh. This comes as a welcome return to form following their non-scoring race in Barcelona last week.
Albon noted the team’s different strategic approach, suggesting it may have influenced their promising results. "We hit the ground running…but we may have flattered ourselves a little bit with our programme," he stated. He emphasized the need for further development, particularly in braking performance, stating, "We lost a little bit of confidence and rhythm, which around here is very important." He added, "I think Q3 is within our targets tomorrow, but we still have some work to do."
Sainz echoed Albon’s sentiments, indicating that tire strategy could be pivotal in qualifying. He remarked, “We seemed to be running a bit lighter or in a different engine mode than the others this morning.” He noted that they are still competitive, sitting "three or four tenths off the fastest cars," a position he describes as "a good place to be going into tomorrow."
As the teams prepare for qualifying, both drivers acknowledge the need for precision in tire selection between the C5 and C6 compounds, which are expected to deliver closely matched performance.
Overall, Williams hopes to translate this promising practice pace into points during the race weekend.
