What's Going Wrong at Williams This Season?

So far, the 2026 season for Williams has been one of many ups and downs. The team has only managed to score 11 points so far and is currently placed 9th out of 11 teams in the constructors’ championship. In comparison to their dominating days in the 1990s, it is underwhelming and not up to the team’s standards. So, where has it all gone wrong this year?

Let’s look back to the 2025 Season

Under James Vowles' leadership, in the 2025 season, Williams made the call to stop upgrading the then-current car and decided to shift all development towards the 2026 car, the FW48. Starting before any other team, this should have been an excellent idea to get ahead of the field. However, this wasn’t how it panned out. From the outset, this season's car has not been competitive enough. Their extra preparation time should have translated into them fighting for around 4th in the Constructors' Championship, especially considering they’ve got 2 amazing drivers, with Albon, who has been loyal for many years, and Sainz, who managed to score two podiums last year. Both are capable of leading Williams back towards the top – but only if they have the right car that is competitive enough to consistently break the top 10.

The Barcelona Shakedown - the cracks began to show

The pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was the first chance for Williams to test their car within the new regulations. However, they immediately ran into a few problems. Just 3 days before the testing began, Williams decided to withdraw. The reason given was production and development delays. Unlike Aston Martin, who had similar problems but still managed to make the testing, although a couple of days late, Williams completely backed out. This indicated the issues already ran a lot deeper.

So, what is the problem?

There have been a variety of challenges recorded about the Williams car. These include lacking competitive aerodynamic downforce, poor mechanical balance, and a compliant weight configuration. Uncompetitive downforce reduces cornering speeds and makes the car unstable. Poor mechanical balance hinders performance by constraining the design cycle – but weight is a more pressing issue. In the world of Formula 1, minimising weight is crucial to lap times, but the FW48 is still 20-28 Kg over the minimum standard weight. Experts estimate at least 0.9 seconds being lost on average each lap. This all goes to show the vast extent of problems with the Williams, which should have been overcome with the extra dedication and preparation put into the car early on.

While there are clearly numerous problems with the FW48, another major disappointment is their inability to fully harness the powerful Mercedes engine. In total, 4 teams use the Mercedes engine – Mercedes, McLaren, Alpine and Williams. Mercedes is currently first in the Constructors' Championship with 145-points. McLaren are moving up through the ranks and, in Norris, have a driver who is fighting to be a back-to-back Champion. And finally, Alpine have managed to qualify on pole position in one race. By contrast, Williams, with the exact same engine, have no such achievements. But why? They have the engine, but they are suffering from a knowledge gap that would allow them to optimise the complex 2026 hybrid software, which is causing great harm to their success. This lack of knowledge has hindered them as a team and could lead to the loss of money and sponsors, all because James Vowles is failing to fulfil his promise of bringing Williams back to the top.

Can they turn it around in the second half?

To try and save the second half of their season and start fighting for points once again, Williams has prepared a major B-spec upgrade package to be introduced at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku. Similar to Aston Martin's recent upgrade package, Williams are introducing all the new upgrades at once, rather than in increments like most other teams. This upgrade includes significant weight reduction via a new chassis, and a new front wing to improve the FW48 aerodynamics.

However, James Vowles has stressed that the upgrade’s main purpose is to test out the new systems and processes put in place for the future, not just the current car performance.

This raises the question: is Vowles once again admitting that Williams are focusing on early preparation for the next season at the expense of this season?