Williams came into the 2026 season full of high hopes, after topping the midfield last year and boasting a strong and settled driver line up of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. Fresh from scoring two podiums last season, the Grove-based outfit had hoped to close the gap to the top teams – but that is not quite how this year has unfolded thus far. Here is the state of play at Williams…
How has the 2026 season gone so far?
Williams were the only team to miss the Barcelona Shakedown in its entirety, which was a less than ideal start to the year. Their absence was due to delays in the FW48 programme, but the team did make up for that with plenty of running during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
In fact, they managed the third-most laps of any team, only behind McLaren and Haas. With the Mercedes power unit in the car, hopes were still high that Williams might have a good season and build on that 2025 form.
However, it became apparent that the car was significantly overweight, costing them plenty of lap time, and it appeared reliability was not on their side either. In Australia, Sainz missed most of FP3 and failed to get out for Qualifying – though he did manage to start the race.
While both drivers finished in Melbourne, it was Albon’s turn for the lion’s share of the bad luck in China, when he was unable to take part in the Grand Prix thanks to a hydraulics issue. Sainz did manage to score a welcome two points for Williams, their only top-10 result of the season so far.
He was helped by two top cars – the McLarens – not starting, and Max Verstappen retiring from the Grand Prix, but the Spaniard did show that Williams can compete if the circumstances fall their way. For example, he was able to hold off Franco Colapinto’s faster Alpine in the closing stages.
But that joy was short lived as, in Japan, the team fell backwards. Sainz finished 15th and Albon was down in P20 after turning the latter stages of the race into a test session.
Reasons to be hopeful
Under James Vowles, Williams have built a tight-knit unit of motivated people who are striving for success. It was this that attracted Sainz to sign for Williams, and the team will be working hard to recover some ground in the spring break.
Williams need to shed some weight from the car, that much is clear. If they can do so, they might find they are right in the thick of the midfield bunch, as they are running the Mercedes power unit – which Alpine have shown can be exploited by teams other than the Silver Arrows.
In many ways, weight is an easy fix – and in some ways it is not. But at least, unlike some teams, Williams know exactly what they have to do to get back to regularly fighting for the points this year.
Reasons to be cautious
No team will be standing still – so while Williams may find some answers, so will the others. And in the past, it has taken teams a full season to shed weight from a heavy car, so Williams will know they are up against it in that regard.
The midfield is extremely competitive this year, and contains Red Bull at the moment – although most expect that team to leap back to the front at some point. As such, Williams are in a fight with Haas, Audi, Racing Bulls and Alpine for points, so even if they can improve, they might still find themselves outside the top 10.
The development race will be a crucial part of this season, but with issues to fix, Williams have to look backwards to move forwards. Having not nailed these regulations, they may well find themselves playing catch up all season long.
What have the drivers and team bosses said?
“Realistically, we are achieving what we can achieve and executing our races as best as we can but we just need to get on top of some issues and get a bit more speed in the car,” Albon explained in the wake of the Japanese Grand Prix.
“We have a lot of work to do but we have about five weeks [between races] as a team so there’s a lot that we can improve and I think this is going to benefit us so that we can come back stronger in Miami.”
Sainz was also upbeat, saying that he is working well with the team to understand both the car and the regulations, and that he is hoping for “real progress” in the gap between Japan and Miami.
But team boss Vowles took a much harder stance. He called Japan a “line in the sand” after watching one car turn a Grand Prix into a test session.
“[We need to] make sure we add performance every race going forward this year and fight back towards a point-scoring position every weekend,” Vowles said.
“These next weeks will be some of the hardest for us, purposefully so, as we dig deep and make sure that we come back with a car in Miami that is worthy of scoring points.”
What do Williams need to work on going forwards?
Like everyone, Williams need to develop at speed, whilst keeping an eye on their rivals to make sure they are not missing any tricks. The weight needs to come off the car – and then they can see if their chassis is competitive.
They have two proven performers in Sainz and Albon so experience is not a problem, and we have seen plenty of instances of teams turning their seasons around midway through – just look at what Red Bull managed with Max Verstappen last year.
But Williams need to make inroads into the pace deficit fast, before morale starts to dip.
