Alex Albon details ‘enormous list of issues’ with Williams car

Alex Albon said Williams had an ‘enormous’ list of issues to fix on the FW48 as the team’s disappointing start to the season continued in China.

Having finished 12th in the season opener, Albon was not even able to make it to the start line in China as a gearbox issue handed him the second DNS of his career.

Alex Albon bemoans ‘enormous’ list of Williams problems

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After much talk in the past seasons of a new Williams, 2026 has failed to deliver for James Vowles team with the car missing the pre-season shakedown and now reportedly being around 20kg overweight.

The team got off the mark points wise in China with Carlos Sainz able to score two but Albon’s issues are perhaps more reflective of where the car is right now.

Speaking after his DNS in China, Albon described the list of issues facing the team as “enormous”.

“We had some hydraulic issues so we can’t even check if the car’s okay,” he said. “So it makes our job a bit harder.

“I was hoping I could get back out there on track and just get some laps and shakedown the car for Japan, but not doing the laps, we now have to kind of get the car back into the UK. Make sure we understand it.

“I think realistically, as a team, some things were in our control. Some things weren’t. But the list of issues that we’ve had over the last two weekends is enormous and a bit surprising to us.

“Just because of the reliability and strengths that we had in [pre-season testing in] Bahrain, we seem to have not had them in these last two weekends.”

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Even if the car is fixed for this weekend’s race in Japan, the team is still far away from where it wanted to be in the new regulation cycle and Albon admitted that it was affecting morale.

“I think as a team, we’re all feeling a bit down there,” the 30-year-old said. “It’s important for us as a team to separate what’s in our control and what’s not.

“So yes, of course, performance is in our control, but also the issues that we’re having during the races where we’re not able to have a car that’s at least working the right way.

“We’ve got a chance to regroup now, before Japan, as I said, we need to go through the data and understand what’s going on also for us.

“Obviously we’re paying catch up. I think realistically, these two races that we’re missing is going to, hopefully, as well, get us a bit more time at the factory, just to get more prepared for the rest of the season.”

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