Williams welcome signs of progress in Miami as Albon and Sainz eye opportunities in a mixed‑conditions race
Williams left Saturday in Miami with a sense of cautious optimism. The team’s upgraded FW48 showed flashes of competitiveness across both the Sprint and the main qualifying session, even if the final results did not yet translate into headline positions.
What mattered more was the direction of travel: both drivers felt the car had taken a meaningful step forward, and the team believes Sunday’s expected rain could open the door to a stronger result.
The Sprint offered the first glimpse of Williams’ improved package. Both Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz were able to race wheel‑to‑wheel in the midfield, something that has not always been possible this season. The only setback came when Albon pitted late for a new nose — a move that appeared less like a necessity and more like a controlled experiment.
Qualifying then delivered another small but important milestone: both cars advanced from Q1. Neither Albon nor Sainz could fight for Q3, but the team viewed the session as another indication that the Miami upgrade is working as intended.
Albon, who finished the Sprint in 18th and qualified 16th with a 1:29.946, said the day was about learning as much as possible from the new parts and preparing for a potentially unpredictable race.
“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.”
Sainz echoed that sense of progress. The Spaniard finished the Sprint in 13th and qualified 14th with a 1:29.568, missing out on P11 by just a tenth of a second. He emphasised that the upgrade package is delivering performance, even if the team has not yet extracted everything from it.
“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.”
Sainz also took a moment to reflect on the news of Alex Zanardi’s passing, adding a personal tribute.
“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.”
