Canadian GP: Frustrating Qualifying for Williams Racing


By Williams Racing
June 15 2025

After a promising Friday and Saturday practice the Atlassian Williams Racing Team would go into qualifying for the 2025 Canadian GP hopeful of securing a good result. But the session would prove to be frustrating as a result of so many issues. Alex would have the drama of seeing his rear bodywork fly off on the main stratight seeing a Red Flag with the debris from his car. Thankfully the team was able to repair his car and Alex was able to make it into Q3 to finish 10th. But the performance from the FW47 was far from what was hoped. For Carlos Sainz his Q1 was ruined by another car impeding the lap that would have seen him into Q2. Carlos would finish in a disappointing 16th. Both drivers would again suffer from the softest range of tyres that had been brought to the weekend, in particular the C6 soft tyre.

 
 Atlassian Williams Racing Canadian GP Qualifying Review
 
Sainz
 
Albon

Alex Albon:
"A frustrating Qualifying session. We should be top six or seven - that’s the pace we’ve been showing all weekend - so today has been a bit of a bogey session at the wrong time, unfortunately. The wind has changed 180 degrees from yesterday to today and that changes the balance of the car. We struggled as well with the tyres and the result was us falling back a lot from yesterday. With the bodywork issue we had in Q1, the team did a fantastic job to get the car ready and did a lot of work in a short amount of time. We’ve got some work to do tonight and ongoing work to understand the C6 tyre, as we need to get on top of that."

Sainz

Carlos Sainz:
"There isn't much to say. I spent pretty much all of Sector 1 behind the VCARB, to the point we nearly collided. I was 20 milliseconds away from Q2, so that pretty much ruins the weekend. It’s incredibly disappointing."

 

James Vowles Team Principal:
"Really impressive effort from the team getting Alex's car repaired and turned round, allowing Alex to put in a fantastic lap, keeping our chances of Q3 alive. It was a tough day for Carlos. He had the pace today but was significantly blocked by Hadjar, which ultimately put an end to our Qualifying.

I think the biggest reflection we have is we were very quick yesterday and we seem to have slowed down a little bit today relative to the field. There are a couple of changes that happened around us; it's definitely warmer and the wind has changed, so we need to understand for the long term how to get the most out of the car irrespective of the conditions around us. For now, we’re looking forward to the race tomorrow. I think there’s still very much an opportunity to get Carlos fighting back up into points, and for Alex to move forwards."

 
Albon
 
Sainz
 
Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Canada  Lap Length: 4.361km
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
10 A Albon Williams Racing 1:12.090 1:11.892 1:11.907
16 C Sainz Williams Racing 1:12.398 - -
 
Albon