Belgian GP: Surprising Qualifying for Williams Racing


By Williams Racing
July 27 2025

Coming off the 6th place finish for Carlos Sainz in the Belgian GP Sprint qualifying and race the Atlassian Williams Racing Team went into qualifying feeling optimistic about their chances. By the end of the session the team would be presented with the surprising results that saw Alex Albon finish in a fantastic 5th, his best qualifying result for quite some time. Coming off what was a difficult Friday and Sprint for Alex this was such a fantastic turn around. But on the other side of the garage we were presented with a surprising and disappointing qualifying for Carlos Sainz where he would finish in a 16th after struggling to get the best from his tyres in his final run. Overall a great session, what with Alex's result, for the team but now it will come down to what the weather will bring for Sunday's race.

 
 Atlassian Williams Racing Belgian GP Sprint - Qualifying
 
Sainz
 
Sainz

Carlos Sainz:
"Disappointed with this result. I had a strong lap in Q1 but didn’t manage to go any faster in Q2, as I didn’t manage to find grip. We’ve tried different directions with car balance and experimented a bit with set-up throughout the weekend, but obviously today didn’t go our way and we need to analyse it. Hopefully tomorrow there will be opportunities as it could be wet, so let’s keep focused as the weekend is not over yet."
Albon

Alex Albon:
"I’m really happy. We fixed the issue we had on Friday, which made the biggest difference. The lap felt tricky, and it was difficult to see where I could find the lap time, so I wasn’t expecting to make such a big step forward in Q3. The working window for the tyres is very narrow and we did a good job to find that sweet spot to pull it all together. Our race pace feels strong, so I’m hoping for a relatively straightforward race tomorrow."
 

James Vowles Team Principal:
"What a fantastic day all-round. This morning, with Carlos finishing P6 in the Sprint Race, demonstrating good performance across the two days, and this afternoon with Alex securing P5, our best Qualifying result since Vegas last year.

We made some improvements to the car since yesterday, working mostly well. I think with Carlos, there’s an interesting quirk with Sprint Qualifying sessions in that you must use a set of Soft tyres in SQ3. This meant that in Q2 today, we had to use one used and one new set of tyres. Then, as the track warmed up, he struggled to find the same lap time as we had previously.

I’m optimistic for tomorrow and look forward to it. I think the weather conditions could play a part but we’re in a strong position with two strong drivers."
 
Albon
 
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium  Lap Length: 7.004km
Sprint Race
Pos Driver Team Finish Pos Time/Gap Fastest Lap
6 C Sainz Williams Racing 6 +14.964 1:46.770
16 A Albon Williams Racing 16 +30.941 1:47.419
 
Qualifying
Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3
5 A Albon Williams Racing 1:41.772 1:41.505 1:41.201
15 C Sainz Williams Racing 1:41.691 1:41.758 -
 
Sainz
 
Sainz