Alexander Albon Calls for Better Williams Communication After Austrian GP

Alexander Albon has urged Williams to improve its internal communication after revealing that setup changes were made to his FW48 during qualifying for the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix without his knowledge.

Both Albon and team-mate Carlos Sainz were eliminated in Q1 at the Red Bull Ring, with Albon qualifying only 18th. The Thai-British driver recovered just one position during the race to finish 17th, describing the qualifying session as the moment Williams compromised its own weekend.

According to Albon, adjustments were made to the car between his second and third Q1 runs, but those modifications were not communicated before he returned to the circuit.

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"Yeah, we made some tweaks to the car between Q1 runs two and three that I was unaware of. I think, yeah, we could have done better, maybe just in communicating what changes were made to the car. We dug our own grave on that one," Albon explained.

When asked whether he genuinely did not know the changes had been made, Albon confirmed that was the case, although he acknowledged such situations can occasionally happen within a race weekend.

The race itself also proved frustrating. With overtaking heavily limited without DRS and track temperatures reaching the highest levels of the season, Albon struggled to make meaningful progress through the field despite the FIA declaring a heat hazard for the event.

Williams equipped Albon with a cooling vest to cope with the extreme conditions, although he joked that another issue reduced its effectiveness.

"I did, yes. But we have an issue with our seat. A cooling vest requires a cool seat to be used, otherwise it turns into a heating vest," Albon said.