Preview: Alex looks ahead to the Australian GP

Find out what Alex had to say ahead of the season’s opening race

Published

05 MAR 2026

Est. reading time

3 min

Alex is looking forward to this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix — and will hope to maximise Atlassian Williams F1 Team’s FW48 at a venue where he has enjoyed past successes.

The 29-year-old can look back fondly on a P5 finish at the Albert Park Circuit last term, as he recorded his best-ever start to a Formula 1 campaign.

That wasn’t his only points return in Melbourne, either, having also placed P10 there with Williams back in 2022.

It’s therefore no surprise that Albono is relishing another trip down under, as he explained when speaking ahead of the upcoming season-opener.

“Melbourne is a great place to start the season and I’m looking forward to being back with the team as we kick off 2026,” he said.

“It’s been a challenging off-season and we’ve been pouring over the data following Bahrain.

“The focus this weekend will be on extracting performance with the new package and learning more about the new regs.

“It’s a long season and it’s about building momentum, session by session and race by race.”

Key to AA23’s chances of success will be managing the Albert Park Circuit’s unique demands, with its high-speed straights, tight chicanes and testing corners.

The street circuit encourages closing racing and has a number of overtaking opportunities in the early stages of each lap — something Alex will look to take advantage of.

There’s also going to be a new set of regulations to get to grips with, which our Thai racer discussed with the media earlier this week.

“It’s not counterintuitive — I think that you just need to understand the fundamentals of how it works,” he explained.

“I think that I’d never really have had to speak too much to Mercedes about driving a Formula 1 car! [It was a case of] How do I start the engine and, generally, that was about it.

“Now, the work that’s been done in the winter, there are some meetings at the technical level that you should understand.

“People can look at it in a good way or in a bad way. I think that as a driver, as an athlete, you just do whatever it takes to get to be the best you can be.

“So, if that is understanding how these things work, can you find a bit of performance yourself by knowing how these engines work better than everyone else? Yeah, likely you can.

“So do that and spend your time with Mercedes and understand how to drive these cars. It’s been very interesting, and I think, long story short, it’s just part of the game.”

The Australian GP kicks off with Free Practice 1 on Friday at 12pm AEDT, followed by FP2 at 4pm.

Then it’s Free Practice 3 on Saturday at 12pm, ahead of Qualifying at 4pm. Finally, the weekend’s main event gets underway at 3pm AEDT.

We’ll be covering the action every step of the way, so make sure to follow along on our live blog via the AA23 website and app.

And don’t forget to claim Alex’s latest Fan Passport stamp before racing concludes in Melbourne. You can add this week’s Albono to your collection via the link below.

Enjoy the Australian Grand Prix!

The 2026 Australia Albono is ready to collect!