Report: A P12 Finish Down Under
Alex begins 2026 with a P12 result in the 2026 Australian Grand Prix
Published
08 MAR 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
Alex began the new era of Formula One with a P12 finish after his P15 qualification in the 2026 Australian Grand Prix.
There was a day of lessons to learn for the entire grid, with a new style of racing for all 22 drivers and 11 teams.
That extended to Alex, who could navigate his way around the frantic opening lap to gain some positions before slipping a little further back and battling with cars around him.
Starting from P15 on Mediums, the No.23 car gained a position before the lights went out after home driver Oscar Piastri crashed on an reconnaissance lap and did not reach the grid.
With 13 cars ahead of him, Alex jumped from P14 to P12 as battery deployment made for a mixture of getaway speeds when the race began.
Teammate Carlos Sainz slotted in behind Albono, and the two Williams drivers flew in formation for the first lap.
Extra speed by Haas driver Ollie Bearman advanced the Briton to P12, with Max Verstappen’s recovery drive also coming in the early laps, dropping Albono down to P13.
Undeterred, Alex kept his head down and soon chased down a quick-starting Fernando Alonso, who had used Softs to gain early ground. Using his pace, Alex moved back to P13 on the run to Turn 9.
The first of three Virtual Safety Car slowdowns came on Lap 11, with Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull retiring and the team choosing to pit Alex for Hard Pirelli tyres.
It was P12 for Albono when the green flag flew after a mixture of strategies saw some drivers stopping and others staying out.
Unfortunately a small lock up at Turn 3 allowed Sainz to get ahead before another VSC to recover Valtteri Bottas’ Cadillac.
Sainz, however, did not have the same speed as Alex after a heavily disrupted weekend for the Spaniard, and the lead FW48 moved in Alex’s favour at the halfway point of the race.
A second and final pit stop came amid a very brief third VSC interruption to recover debris, with Alex grabbing a set of Softs for the remaining 20 laps.
That final act of this Australian GP had Liam Lawson closing down a 12s gap, but ultimately unable to pass by the time the chequered flag fell, with Alex 1s ahead on the final classification.
Alex meeting fans before the race
Speaking after the race’s conclusion, Alex shared his thoughts by saying:
“It was a long race for us today. Currently we are in no man’s land and not really fighting against the midfield, however our strategy was good, but it’s clear we are lacking pace.
“It’s obvious from lap times that we’re overweight and not producing enough downforce, and graining was also a problem for us today especially on the hard tyre.
“Realistically we know where we can find the lap time and the team are working tirelessly on an aggressive plan to get us closer to where we want to be.
“A positive from today is that we got mileage and that we overcame some reliability issues from previous sessions, but we’ll learn as much as we can from this weekend to apply next time out in Shanghai.”
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