Williams enjoyed one of the strongest seasons in their recent F1 history last year, rising to fifth in the Teams\u2019 Championship \u2013 their highest placing since 2017 \u2013 and returning to the podium with new signing Carlos Sainz. Can they take the next step as F1 enters a new era of regulations? F1.com previews the Grove-based squad\u2019s campaign\u2026<\/p>\n
Drivers for 2026<\/p>\n
Alex Albon #23: 2 podiums, 313 points, 128 starts
Carlos Sainz #55: 4 Grand Prix wins, 29 podiums, 6 pole positions, 1336.5 points, 229 starts<\/p>\n
Williams<\/a> remain unchanged on the driver front heading into 2026, as established team member Alex Albon<\/a> continues alongside Carlos Sainz<\/a>, who more than made an impression across his first season with the Grove-based outfit.<\/p>\n Thai-British driver Albon started his F1 career with Toro Rosso in 2019, earning a rapid promotion to Red Bull mid-season \u2013 in place of the struggling Pierre Gasly \u2013 and keeping his place at the senior team through 2020.<\/p>\n However, he could not avoid the same fate as Gasly and several other drivers in the second seat alongside Max Verstappen, leaving him on the sidelines for 2021, before making a return with Williams in 2022 and steadily rebuilding his career.<\/p>\n Sainz, meanwhile, started out as Verstappen\u2019s Toro Rosso team mate back in 2015, staying there for just over two-and-a-half seasons until \u2013 having been overlooked for a Red Bull promotion \u2013 he decided to go elsewhere and switched to Renault.<\/p>\n That was followed by a move to McLaren, where he claimed his first podiums, and then Ferrari, where he secured his first pole positions and victories, only for the Scuderia to replace him with seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton for 2025 \u2013 eventually sending Sainz to Williams via interest from several teams.<\/p>\n Last season<\/p>\n As touched on in the introduction, Williams enjoyed a stellar 2025, scoring more points (137 to be precise) across the 24-round season than they had in the previous seven combined. An impressive effort, even accounting for slight variations in calendar lengths.<\/p>\n It was Albon who contributed most to that tally over the first half of the year, stringing together arguably his strongest start to an F1 campaign, before Sainz found his feet and scored a brilliant podium in Azerbaijan \u2013 Williams\u2019 first since 2021, and before that 2017.<\/p>\n Another P3 finish for the Spaniard in the Austin Sprint race, and then the Qatar Grand Prix at the tail-end of the season, added the icing on the cake, while locking down Williams\u2019 first top-five Teams\u2019 Championship classification in almost a decade.<\/p>\n History<\/p>\n