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Alex Albon will miss out on the first practice session at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix, as Williams Racing announced that Victor Martins will step into the Thai driver's car for the session. The British team's junior academy driver, who is currently competing in F2, will make his F1 race weekend debut in Catalonia.
Alex Albon has had an impressive start to the 2025 season, having already bagged 42 points for the British team in the drivers' championship. The 29-year-old will now have to sit out the first practice session during the upcoming Spanish GP to make way for Martins.
Williams announced this move on Tuesday (27 May) via their various social media platforms and a press release. The official statement on Williams' website reads:
"Atlassian Williams Racing is pleased to announce that Williams Racing Academy Driver Victor Martins will take part in the first Free Practice session at the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix this weekend in Barcelona, driving Alex Albon’s FW47. This FP1 session fulfils the team’s second of four mandated driver sessions this year and marks Victor’s debut drive in a Formula 1 weekend."
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With five rounds of the 2025 F2 season having been concluded, Martins currently sits eighth in the drivers' standings. Luke Browning, who is also part of Williams' junior programme, leads the championship.
As mentioned in their press release, Williams will have completed two out of their four mandated rookie driver sessions in 2025, when Martins steps in for FP1 in Barcelona. The first of these was completed in April, when Browning stepped into Carlos Sainz's FW47 during FP1 ahead of the Bahrain GP.
Alex Albon apologizes to spectators after an uneventful Monaco GP
Alex Albon apologized to the spectators after the Monaco Grand Prix, while also recognizing that the Williams team antagonized other drivers and fans across the globe. The British team was criticized for blocking the whole field behind them while swapping their drivers around to build large enough pit stop windows.
Speaking after the race, Albon recognized that Williams' strategy frustrated not only the drivers behind them but also the fans watching the event unfold.
"I know we put on a bad show for everyone, and I know we made a few angry drivers behind us in the process as well. It's just taking advantage of the track, the size of the cars, and that's it really," said Albon [via The Race]
“The two-stop just made us do it twice, rather than once. Just frustrating. Apologies to everyone who watched that, that wasn't very pretty," he added.
Williams team boss James Vowles also texted Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, which the latter revealed (via the Race):
“Yeah, I [was] sent a text in the race. He said: 'I'm sorry. We had no choice given what happened ahead.' I answered: 'We know.'”
