At the Williams presentation, James Vowles expressed confidence about the 2026 season, also thanks to the feedback coming from Mercedes.
Williams was the only team to skip the Barcelona tests, but James Vowles has no regrets about that decision, as he stated during the presentation of the FW48. The Grove-based team unveiled the livery it will race with during the 2026 season, which will also be seen during this month’s Bahrain test session.
The new year did not start smoothly for the historic British team, which suffered delays in the car development programme. For this reason, Williams decided to skip the tests at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a decision that James Vowles does not regret.
“I would have far preferred to be in Barcelona,” the team principal said during the virtual press conference with the media. “That was the goal. That was what we intended to do. We didn’t achieve it. However, what we have done in VTT [Virtual Track Testing] has been successful, what we are doing with Carlos [Sainz] and Alex [Albon] in the simulator in tandem while everyone else was in Barcelona [has been successful].”
James Vowles also indirectly “thanked” Mercedes, currently considered to have the most powerful power unit: “We are fortunate that Mercedes had enough drivers [running, ed.]. We were provided with a lot of information on the gearbox and the power unit that will allow us to be ahead when we arrive in Bahrain.”
However, he also issued a warning: “That doesn’t mean that after six days of testing we will be ahead. Some of it is luck, because the engine and the power unit are reliable, the gearbox is reliable, and the VTT tests uncovered a lot of hidden demons in the car.”
Williams 2026, Bahrain tests will be crucial
The lack of “physical” on-track testing inevitably limits the understanding of the car, particularly in terms of correlation with simulator data, and James Vowles is fully aware of this.
“What is missing is for the drivers to have in-depth knowledge to refine what happens on track,” he added. “There is a lack of correlation between the real situation of our aerodynamics and the dynamics of our cars.”
The only way to find out will be to hit the track, and the Bahrain sessions will be fundamental. “There has been a loss, but with six days of testing, with our drivers in the simulator – we have invested in a state-of-the-art simulator, and I am very confident that this is the benchmark in the industry, already operational since the end of last year – we are able to mitigate much of this issue,” he concluded.
James Vowles’ calculated gamble to skip the Barcelona shakedown places immense pressure on the Williams FW48 to perform flawlessly from the very first lap in Bahrain. By relying heavily on Mercedes’ reliability data and their own “industry-leading” simulation tools, the team is betting that digital preparation can compensate for the lack of physical track time. While the “thanks” to Mercedes provides a safety net regarding the powertrain, the true test will be whether the Grove engineers have successfully correlated their ambitious aerodynamic package without the benefit of an early shakedown.
James Vowles believes that the combination of Mercedes’ proven hardware and Williams’ advanced virtual testing will allow the team to recover from their initial development delays and remain competitive for the 2026 season opener.
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