Alex Albon has had a strong season for Williams this year, following another good showing at the Italian GP. His result of P7 moved him ahead of Kimi Antonelli in the driver standings as the Thai driver, who has recorded 81 per cent of his team’s points this term, moved into seventh place.
Williams had a good pace in Monza, and Albon’s climb from a low grid position to firmly inside the points was proof. The 29-year-old says the Oxfordshire-based team’s speed was comparable to the top teams in the championship.
Alex Albon says Williams were as fast as Ferrari and McLaren in Monza
Williams were expected to have a good race at the Italian GP, and the practice sessions showed the team had good speed. Despite not being able to convert it during qualifying, Alex Albon recovered to score the team some vital points. The Thai driver also believes FW47 was one of the strongest cars in the field at Monza.
After the race, Albon told F1TV that their pace was similar to Ferrari and McLaren. He explained, “Our pace was on par with Ferrari and, at times, even with McLaren on the hard tyres.
🚨 | Alex Albon thinks Williams’ race pace was similar to Ferrari and McLaren in Monza:
“Honestly, I can’t even remember the last time I had a good qualifying session, probably Spa.
“Our pace was on par with Ferrari and, at times, even with McLaren on the hard tyres. The…
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) September 7, 2025
“The degradation was really strong too. We’ve always seen that with our car: when we run low downforce, it just works. Today it actually felt like quite an easy ride.”
Despite Albon finishing 50 seconds behind race leader Max Verstappen, the former Red Bull driver was fast. In the first stint, he was able to keep up with the medium tyre runners while running the hard tyres. This gave him an advantage towards the end of the race, when he bolted on the medium tyres, while his rivals were on worn hards.
His pace was so strong that his fastest lap was quicker than Lewis Hamilton’s and George Russell’s ahead of him. He was only a tenth shy of Charles Leclerc’s and Oscar Piastri’s, too. Williams must be rueing yet another poor qualifying session.
Why is Williams struggling in qualifying?
Over the last five races, Albon and Carlos Sainz have only made it into Q3 on one occasion each. In a season where overtaking has been difficult, qualifying is key ot having a good race result. However, this is not the case for Williams.
The FW47 has good tyre degradation, meaning it can keep its tyres alive for longer than its rivals. This is making moving through the field a little bit easier for their drivers. However, it means that Williams is sacrificing their qualifying pace. They find it difficult to get the soft tyres into the correct operating window.
Albon explained, “We can do multiple laps, we can get the tyre to work, and we can be quick. And then we come into qualifying when obviously it’s quite restricted what you can do on out laps and whatnot, and we just can’t get it firing.
“Race pace tyres get hot and actually fall into the window that we want them to be in.”
A big moment for Albon and a bold move on Antonelli 👊
Hear the driver reactions as they happened after a race of incidents, team orders and more – click to watch Radio Rewind now! 👇#F1 #ItalianGP @paramountplus
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Despite their struggles on a Saturday, Williams is finding a way to score points on Sunday. Their race pace is strong, and the team has recorded four top-five finishes this season. They also sit fifth in the standings, and if they can finish their, it will be a massive confidence boost going into 2026.
