Double act: Williams Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon on powering Williams to the top

Looking back, 2024 was a tough year for Carlos Sainz. Despite putting in a shift behind the wheel at Ferrari, the Spanish Formula One driver was pushed aside by the Maranello-based marque to make way for the arrival of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton. While everyone was fixated with Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari – the post of him posing like a mafia boss outside Enzo Ferrari’s house became the most-liked Formula 1 Instagram post in history with over 5.7 million likes – Sainz was left pondering his next move in the sport. Few would have predicted the Spaniard would move to join Alex Albon at Williams but fewer still would have guessed that the plucky British outfit would rise from the ashes and shape up to be the midfield's most potent team.

But with one (rather successful season) to look back on, Sainz and Albon appear to be uniquely positioned in F1. You could say they’re in the right place at the right time, or so it looks, with Williams on the rise after a decade of dismal results. Now, stepping up to the 2026 regulatory reset, equipped with Mercedes power and a hefty dose or rigor and optimism from team boss James Vowles, Sainz and Albon have the potential to ride the Williams wave and make history as the drivers that returned the great British racing team to its former glory. All that stands in their way are 20 other drivers, 10 other teams and a decade of underperformance and underfunding. Still, never underestimate the underdogs, right?

“I've been now in five different teams in Formula One, and I can tell you no team is the same as the other,” says Sainz, leaning on the table of his motorhome, dressed head to toe in the team’s new 2026 season kit. The gleaming white of the Williams overalls contrasting greatly with his deep tan and quaffed, black locks. “Going from an Italian team with a very different culture like Ferrari to a British team with British roots like Williams has been a big change, but I was welcomed by a whole factory and I felt at home from day one.”

No doubt greeting him at the door was his teammate, Alex Albon. Now a seasoned Williams driver in his fifth year with the team, Albon will take the title as the driver with the most starts of any driver in Williams’ history when the Miami Grand Prix comes around in May 2026. “I was here when the team were really at the bottom,” chipping in alongside Sainz, as the pair take a break from the pre-season shoot at a studio in London. “I’ve been able to enjoy the process of seeing the team transition from P10 in the Championship, to a team that finished fifth in 2025.”

With Team Principal James Vowles coming to Williams after winning multiple championships at Mercedes, Sainz arriving from Ferrari and Albon from Red Bull in 2022, all three of the team’s frontmen have a good idea of how championship-winning teams operate. “I feel like Carlos and I have a unique position within the grid,” Albon admits. “Two drivers with experience, that don't have the ego to be ultra-selfish, and can help develop a car; I think we’re in a really healthy position where, even if we don't start in position that we want to start in, we have the recipe to be able to just still come back strongly.”

Still, with all the will in the world, Albon, Sainz and the whole William’s outfit have their work cut out this year. The 2026 season, marks the dawn of a technical regulation reset, featuring smaller, lighter cars with active aerodynamics and a new "Overtake Mode" that replaces the traditional Drag Reduction System (DRS). At the heart of the cars, the power units have undergone a major overhaul, with a 50/50 split between internal combustion and electric power, while running entirely on sustainable fuels. That could either work in Williams’ favour by resetting the running order, throwing dominant teams like McLaren and Red Bull off course, or it could prove catastrophic – undoing all the hard work and progress Williams made in the previous world order. As ever, it all depends on how well they’ve adapted to the new regulations and exploited any loopholes.

“We sacrificed 2025 to be ready for 2026 – time will tell if it pays off.” - Sainz

“The 2026 season is a clean sheet of paper – no one knows what’s going to happen,” insists Sainz. “We sacrificed 2025 to be ready for 2026 – time will tell if it pays off.” But few would describe Sainz’s first season with Williams as ‘sacrifice’. The Spaniard delivered the team’s first podium in four years with a third-place finish in Azerbaijan, before squeezing in another third-place finish in Qatar, rounding off the season in ninth. As for Albon, there were no podiums but consistent points-scoring ensured he overcame a hattrick or retirements to finish eighth, one place above his teammate.

When I ask both drivers if a race win might be on the cards this year for Williams, they’re cautiously optimistic. “Dreaming is for free, so nothing is impossible” smiles Sainz. “If I would have said to people that on my first year with Williams, I was going to score two podiums, not many people would have believed it. While 2026 is still early days for us, my logical mind tells me this is the year to score our first win.”

As for Albon, the Thai-British driver feels like the “groundworks are in place to become a top team,” albeit Williams is still in the “beginning phase.” Turning 30 in March, the driver is a senior statesman compared to drivers like Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad (18), Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli (19), Haas’ Oliver Bearman and Red Bull’s Isack Hajar (both 21), not to mention the reigning world champion Lando Norris aged just 26. “You want that success to come earlier, but you do realize it's not going to happen overnight. It's going to take a couple more years to get there. But I do believe in it.”

While the competition has always been high in F1, the driver standards have stepped up a notch in recent years according to Sainz and Albon. “It’s probably one of the most challenging moments to be a Formula One driver, because I don’t think there’s ever been this level of talent and preparation; there’s both youth and experience in Formula One nowadays,” says Sainz.

Speaking of his newly crowned World Champion friend-cum-competitor, Lando Norris, Albon praises the way he handled a rollercoaster season in 2025. “He's got the championship under the belt now… he’s proven to himself what he can do,” he says. “He definitely silenced the haters and answered them on track.” Albon sees 2026 as being the year when experienced drivers will prevail over the younger, rookie drivers, given the cars will be the most complex and mentally demanding to drive. “When you see the rookies first come in, everything's at 100 percent. They have no capacity to think about anything else… in terms of feedback and understanding what the car needs, they're not going to have an advantage.”

“It doesn't become about pure performance anymore,” says Albon. “With the mental load on a driver this year, there's a lot to think about. It’s already complicated, and now we're managing this active aero and the battery in the car. It's going to really test the drivers.”

Putting him and Carlos in the bucket of experienced drivers, Albon believes it’s only the seasoned pros that will be able to master this, driving on the limit while still being able to think clearly enough to develop the car and manage the race.

Of course, that’s all speculation at the moment. Only when the racing gets going from March will we really see which teams and drivers thrive in the new era of Formula One, and which ones fall by the wayside. But Williams is well-positioned for success. It has all the ingredients for a comeback, delivered by its two shining talents, Sainz and Albon. Providing they have the right tools and team behind them, we could be about to witness the beginnings of the great British F1 outfit’s resurgence. “I’m hoping we’re at the beginning of the journey where Williams will be world champion,” says Sainz. “That’s why I’m here.”

Read more: The Return of Williams — an inside look at James Vowles and the long road back to the front.