Williams takes shocking step backwards
Williams’ full transformation from an underfunded legacy team to a modern powerhouse was always going to be a long-term project. But the Formula 1 squad had made a big song and dance about using the 2026 regulations to make a great step forward, sacrificing much of its 2025 development in the process.
Last year Williams performed better than all odds, leaping from ninth to fifth despite its overt 2026 focus, and it had solidified Carlos Sainz’s choice to move to Grove over the likes of Sauber/Audi, banking two podiums in his first year with the squad.
But while making the jump to the top teams was always going to be too ambitious, gaining foothold at the front of F1’s midfield should have been a realistic target, a goal which it has fallen well short of.
The bad
A lot of what was written about Aston Martin also applies to Williams. The wholesale regulation changes stress tested its internal systems to the brink, and the team turned up with a car that was late, missing the Barcelona shakedown altogether.
As was the case with its Silverstone rival, that delayed car build turned out to the canary in the coalmine for an underwhelming launch spec of the FW48, which was significantly overweight and lacked aerodynamic load.
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
The team started 2026 on the outside of Q3 looking in, and managed to bank points over four of the first six race weekends, coming out of the enforced April break with better performance in Miami, Montreal and Monaco.
But neither Sainz nor Alex Albon have scored since then. Returning to higher speed and higher downforce circuits like Barcelona or Silverstone further underlined just how much Williams’ 2026 car is lacking and the team is in survival mode until its last major package for the season gets rolled out around September’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Williams’ brutal campaign has inevitably triggered speculation around its frustrated driver pairing, too, with Sainz admitted the team’s shocking slump “tested my faith for sure”, though boss James Vowles is bullish the squad can deliver on its promises and insists both drivers want to be part of that.
The good
Sitting ninth with 11 points scored isn’t pretty, but learning from your mistakes is a big tenet in F1 and the flaws and shortcomings that were so brutally exposed by 2026’s regulation changes have at least now been identified and are starting to be addressed.
Over the course of the season Williams shored up its technical team with former McLaren stalwart Piers Thynne and former Mercedes engineers Dan Milner and Claire Simpson.
But given this is F1, there is an inevitable delay in turning a team around, whether its hiring key people, installing updated infrastructure or incorporating new procedures. The 2026 season is likely beyond saving for Williams, even if it’s late season upgrade will be an important marker on whether or not the team has what it takes to move forward again. But if all eyes in the factory aren’t on 2027 already, they should be soon enough.
Carlos Sainz, Williams, James Vowles, Williams
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
What they’re saying
James Vowles: “In terms of our direction of travel, we have to, as a business, prove to ourselves that we can do the engineering to the right level of quality and build a car to that level of quality in a season.
“Effectively, the equivalency of flying the plane and rebuilding it at the same time. But we have to prove to ourselves that we have changed from where we were three years ago and have that capability.
“I know what efficient organisations look like. And even today, we are struggling to do a lot of what the others can do at this point, and that is on us to fix. You have to do it at the same time as moving forward in the field.”
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