Alex Albon to miss Italian GP FP1 as Luke Browning steps into Williams

Williams has announced a driver change for first practice at Monza, in order to tick off its second mandatory rookie session of the season.

All teams are required to run a rookie driver for a total of four FP1 sessions across the season, with race drivers required to miss two sessions apiece.

Williams confirm rookie driver for Monza FP1 session

Luke Browning will step into the cockpit of Alex Albon’s Williams FW48 at Monza, in order to take part in first practice at the Italian Grand Prix.

It will be his second practice session of the year, although it would have been his third had his appearance in practice in Barcelona not been compromised by an electrical issue that meant he never left the pit lane – meaning Williams was unable to count it towards its rookie running.

Instead, Browning’s first appearance this year was at the Austrian Grand Prix, when he drove Carlos Sainz’s car, with his upcoming Monza drive being his sixth FP1 showing for the Grove-based squad.

As part of Williams‘ Driver Academy, he is racing this year in Japan’s Super Formula championship, and remains the best-placed driver to step up into the Williams driver line-up when either Alex Albon or Carlos Sainz moves on, should Williams opt for an internal promotion.

However, this won’t be happening in 2027, as Williams confirmed both Albon and Sainz for next season in announcements made before the Dutch Grand Prix weekend.

“I’m thrilled to have another chance to drive an FP1 session with Williams,” Browning said.

“It’s a great opportunity to get invaluable laps in the FW48 while building my understanding of the car and helping to bring useful data and feedback back to Grove.

“Each session teaches you something new, and I want to take every bit of learning I can from this to keep pushing my development and the team forward. For this weekend, it’s about supporting Williams to help maximise the result here in Monza.”

With uncertainty regarding the final two races of the season as Qatar and Abu Dhabi’s scheduling remains in question, the teams are all required to tick off two more rookie outings between now and the likely season finale at Imola, with Browning the logical choice for Williams’ two remaining appearances.

Luke Browning on building towards F1 with Williams

In a recent exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com, Browning spoke of pinching himself as he has closed in on a Formula 1 opportunity.

After finishing fourth in the 2025 F2 championship, Browning is currently playing the waiting game for a potential opportunity, which the likes of appearing in practice at Monza will represent.

It’s a big ask to land a full-time race seat in F1, particularly with the door closed at Williams for 2027, but the 24-year-old said he takes pleasure in being the underdog and making things happen for himself.

“I’ve always been the underdog in my career; I’ve always come from not necessarily the most amount of funding. I’ve had the least amount of test days,” he said.

“I didn’t have that karting pedigree, and sometimes [there’s] that imposter syndrome of ‘Am I really here? Do I deserve this?’

“As you get through the ranks, you win British F4, you win British F3, you win Macau, and then you do years in Formula 3 and Formula 2, and yeah, you can’t believe that you’re here.

“I’m very lucky, because Williams just resonates with me. I’m not just saying that because they’re my junior programme; I could have gone other places as a junior driver.

“I had multiple offers at the time that I chose Williams, and, for me, the reason why I want to be here is that I love that underdog story. I love being written off, and then coming back, and I think over the next couple of years, it’s just so exciting to see where this team’s going to go.

“The infrastructure, I see it… I don’t look immediately at how this race is going, how these next couple of years are going, but I see the investment for the future, and when you’ve got someone in charge like James [Vowles] – we’ve had setbacks this year, but what’s being populated for the future is just so exciting.

“Being part of that story of winning a world championship with Williams would just be the most fulfilling thing for me in my life that I could achieve, more so than joining a championship-winning team and saying, ‘Okay, great, but it’s been done before’.”

Getting as far as he has already required big sacrifices from Browning’s family, with opportunity coming by way of catching the eye of Mercedes to become a simulator driver.

“I still can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it. It just takes me by surprise; it really does,” he said of knocking on the door of Formula 1.

“It’s such a big thing to do, to become a Formula 1 driver, such a big achievement, especially from the sort of background that I’ve come from. It just wasn’t expected when I was driving my Citroen Saxo VTR in 2016, when I was 14!

“In 2017, Max was driving for Red Bull. I thought, at the time, watching him on TV, there is just no chance, you know, in a nice way. I’d love to do this, but I can’t really see this happening.

“Then just, year by year, I just got so lucky, and I’d make the most of the opportunity that I was in, and I brainstormed, and I visualised everything under the sun to possibly put myself in that position.

“I just couldn’t believe it when the doors opened up each time. I remember winning British F4. My parents sold everything for it. We were in debt coming out of the back end of the year, and we had no phone call.

“After the year, I thought it was over; we did our best shot. I won F4 on countback in the last round, and I got one free round with Fortec the year after in British F3, and I remember I went out there and I knew it was my only opportunity to show anything in the following category.

“I went out, and I won the race, and then I got a call from Oli Oakes, and that was my step into British F3. I won that in my first year, and then that’s what propelled me into the Autosport Award against Ollie Bearman.

“Then I managed to become the simulator driver for Mercedes, and I was beating George Russell’s lap times on the simulator – although I’d done 10,000 laps, and he’d maybe done three!”

Shrinking violets rarely succeed in Formula 1, a fact Browning is cognisant of. Showing his go-getting attitude, Browning revealed he’s not afraid to simply ask for what he wants, and his Williams chance came about by picking up the phone to James Vowles.

“I remember calling James Vowles and going, ‘Come on, I just beat George’s lap time. Will you stick me in?!'” he said.

“Maybe I didn’t beat George’s lap time, but it was something along those lines. He said ‘No, not the moment, Luke, but maybe in the future, if anything happens’.

“Then, a couple of weeks later, he was announced as team principal, and I was the first one he called for the junior programme. So I guess that was his first signing!”

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