Williams confirms Canadian Grand Prix plan as schedule clash emerges

The Williams F1 team has confirmed that Victor Martins will be on standby as the team’s reserve driver at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

It comes amid a clash in the calendar for regular reserve driver Luke Browning, who is competing in the Super Formula series in Japan this weekend.

Victor Martins to act as Williams reserve at Canadian Grand Prix

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Martins, the former Alpine F1 junior, is currently competing for the French manufacturer in the World Endurance Championship, starting the 2026 season with consecutive 11th-place finishes at Imola and Spa.

The French driver joined Williams’ academy at the start of 2025, appearing in the opening practice session at last year’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

He graduated to the role of test and development driver ahead of the F1 2026 season, working closely with race drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon and assisting development and setup work in the simulator.

Carlos Sainz vs Alex Albon: Williams head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season

F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between teammates

F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates

With Browning participating in the fourth round of the Super Formula championship at Suzuka, Martins has stepped up to a trackside role at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Following a challenging start to the F1 2026 season, Williams enjoyed a more encouraging weekend in Miami earlier this month as Sainz and Albon finished ninth and 10th respectively.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets after the race, Sainz revealed that Williams’ upgrade in Florida had originally been expected to arrive in time for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in March.

And he warned that the team, which has struggled with an overweight chassis, is unlikely to complete its turnaround before the closing months of this season.

Sainz said: “We finally put the upgrade on the car that was supposed to come to race one, because of all the delays we had at the beginning of the season.

“Now we’ve finally put on the car what was supposed to be the race one package.

“Now it’s on the car, it’s performing at least at the level of the midfield cars. We know we still have a lot of overweight [issues] to set up the car.

“When you look at that, then it’s positive.

“I think the team has done a great effort over the last few weeks to bring this and it shows that when you do things right, things start to come away a bit better.”

He added: “Not where we want to be.

“Still, I expect everyone at home to know this is still not where we want to be, even if it feels for everyone a bit of a relief, because getting two cars in the points and on merit is definitely a good step.

“But we need to keep pushing because it’s still not where we expected to be at the end of last year when we were hoping for 2026.

“Hopefully the start of a new recovery and hopefully by the end of the year we get where we want to be.

“It’s going to take some months to finish the turnaround.

“I think we’re going to need to get to the last third of the season to see a proper turnaround.

“But at least the upgrade work, the weight of the car came a bit off but we still know there’s a bit to go.

“We have a few bits and pieces coming for the next couple of races, so we’re going to keep the positives and making sure we keep focusing.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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