Alex Albon fears ‘disaster’ at British Grand Prix if Williams do not stop making the same mistake

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Williams have set their expectations high for the 2025 F1 British Grand Prix, but Alex Albon warns his Grove team that they may face a ‘disaster’ at Silverstone on Sunday.

The Northamptonshire track is expected to suit the Williams FW47 this weekend, with their car’s characteristics well-matched to the circuit’s high-speed layout. But Albon goes into his team’s home race on the back of retiring from the Grands Prix in Spain, Canada and Austria.

Williams even saw both of their cars fail to take the chequered flag at the Red Bull Ring last Sunday, as Carlos Sainz also failed to even take the start. Sainz retired from the Austrian GP as his car caught fire in the pit lane after an issue with his brakes on the first formation lap.

Albon would get 15 laps into the Austrian GP before the London-born Thai retired due to an issue with his Mercedes power unit. It followed his retirement in Spain due to damage, and Williams saw Albon and Sainz retire from the Canadian GP with unrelated cooling problems.

Alex Albon fears a British Grand Prix ‘disaster’ if Williams overload their Mercedes engine at Silverstone

Williams will now try to put their recent flurry of retirements in their rear-view mirror in this week’s British GP. Yet while sport.de claims that the Grove crew are going to Silverstone with high expectations for taking points, Albon fears a ‘disaster’ if Williams overload their engine.

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Albon admits that Williams are not sure why they have endured a host of retirements due to their Mercedes power unit, brakes and overheating issues. But if their mistake of putting too much stress into an engine which cannot take it continues, then the British GP will be tough.

“It feels like Canada. Same engine, same symptoms,” Albon lamented. “We’re not just losing points, we’re also losing important test kilometres. And if it hits our home track at Silverstone, it would be a disaster.”

Williams expect points in the British GP after fruitful visits for Alex Albon to the track Carlos Sainz scored his first F1 race win

Albon has scored points in his past two visits to Silverstone with Williams, having secured P8 in the 2023 British GP and P9 in 2024. He also made Q3 in Northamptonshire for both races, after qualifying P8 in 2023 and P9 in 2024 while Logan Sargeant even qualified P14 and P12.

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Sargeant was even only 4.184 seconds away from scoring his only point on pure merit in the 2023 British GP, as the American finished the race in P11 while chasing Sainz with Ferrari for the final point. The American finished 11th in 2024, as well, but was 9.657s from the top 10.

So, as long as both Williams cars reach the chequered flag on Sunday, then the Grove squad will hope to have Albon and Sainz in the points during the 2025 British GP. Sainz also scored his debut F1 Grand Prix win at Silverstone while racing for Ferrari during the 2022 British GP.