Williams in trouble: Would like to have a qualifying on hards!

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Will Williams have a problem in qualifying on Saturday? In Friday's Spielberg practice ( Formula 1 2025 live ticker ), Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz finished only 16th and 17th, respectively—which would mean a double elimination in Q1.

But Williams is actually better than it looks, says Sainz. "I think we're relatively far back in the timesheets, but we're having a lot of trouble putting together a lap on the soft tires."

In other words: The FW47 actually has more pace, but the soft tires aren't able to realize this potential. "This has been going on for a few races now—since Imola, we just haven't been able to find the right rhythm with the softs," says the Spaniard.

"Back then, we were super competitive, but something has changed: Every time we drive the C5 or C6, we don't seem to be particularly strong," said Sainz. "I was third on the hard tires this morning, and even first on the mediums – and as soon as we switch to the softs, the grip disappears, or the others find grip that we don't. We have to work on that."

Because that doesn't bode well for qualifying. "If we were running on mediums, used tires, or hards, we'd definitely be in Q3. But with the softs we need for qualifying, we need something new," he says.

Teammate Alexander Albon echoed similar sentiments. He also said that Williams would "definitely" be good enough for Q3 on medium or hard tires. He would be confident with the softs "once we get the tires working."

The wind also becomes a problem

But not only the tires, but also the wind may have played a role in the poor result in the second practice session, because it was surprising that the team had crashed so badly after finishing seventh and eighth in the first. "We're a bit confused ourselves," Albon admits.

"It doesn't feel terrible out there, but it doesn't feel particularly good either, and we need to understand what's changed because of the wind," he says. "We know we don't like certain wind directions, and maybe it's hit us in an unfavorable way."

According to the Thai, at least the problem should be resolved in the medium term: "I think once we have upgrades to the car, we will be able to handle it better - but for now, it will stay as it is," he says.

What can Williams still do in the third practice session?

But there's still the problem with the soft tires, which has been going on for quite some time. Williams still has two sets of soft tires available for the third practice session, which they'd like to try out.

"I think we just need to experiment a bit in third practice. We've always managed to fight back to a certain point, but it's very sensitive and not always easy to know exactly where the setup needs to be," says Albon.

There's also hope in the hotter weather expected for Saturday, "which, in a way, resets everything. But we still have to find something," he says. "We'll dig into it and try to figure out where we're losing time."