Williams has admitted that its major Baku upgrade will not be enough to completely solve the FW48’s problems, leaving the Grove team facing the prospect of a deeply disappointing second half of the 2026 Formula 1 season. With just 11 points scored by Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, James Vowles has acknowledged that Williams is struggling to match the development rate of its direct rivals while increasing attention is already being directed towards 2027.
The situation is far removed from the expectations surrounding Williams at the beginning of Formula 1’s new regulatory cycle. After committing extensive financial and human resources to 2026 over the previous years, the team arrived at the new era believing it had an opportunity to make a substantial competitive step. Instead, the FW48 has been hampered by production delays, excess weight and weaknesses that have proved difficult to eliminate.
Williams’ 2026 problems began during a difficult winter
The foundations of Williams’ disappointing campaign were laid well before the opening race. The team endured a difficult January that included failed crash tests, which contributed to Williams missing the opening Barcelona test.
Once the FW48 finally reached the track, another major problem became apparent: the car was significantly overweight relative to the regulatory minimum. Williams has spent much of the season attempting to reduce that deficit while simultaneously working to improve its aerodynamic performance.
The results have fallen well short of expectations. Carlos Sainz has scored six points and Alex Albon five, leaving Williams ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with 11 points. The latest Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship standings also illustrate how far both Williams drivers have slipped from the positions they hoped to occupy under the new regulations.
The difficulties are particularly frustrating because Williams had placed so much emphasis on this season. The Grove organisation deliberately prioritised preparations for the new rules, making the lack of immediate competitiveness particularly damaging.
Carlos Sainz future comes under pressure after Williams struggles
The situation has also increased uncertainty surrounding Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard chose the Williams project after leaving Ferrari, having also considered an approach from Audi before deciding to join James Vowles’ rebuilding programme.
Audi has subsequently demonstrated greater competitiveness during the opening half of its debut season, while Williams has struggled close to the back of the midfield. Against that backdrop, Carlos Sainz has begun reassessing his longer-term position and has been linked again with the German manufacturer.
The lack of major improvements expected during the remainder of the season only increases the importance of that decision. Carlos Sainz joined Williams believing the team’s long-term investment in the 2026 regulations could return it towards the front, but the timetable for achieving that ambition has clearly been delayed.
Hungarian Grand Prix exposes the FW48’s weaknesses
The Hungarian Grand Prix represented another major setback for Williams. James Vowles described the weekend as “terribly painful”, with the FW48 particularly uncomfortable through the Hungaroring’s long-radius corners.
The car appeared unable to maintain a stable platform through those sections, exaggerating the fundamental weaknesses that have restricted Williams throughout the campaign. The contrast with Aston Martin was particularly striking after the Silverstone team’s recent upgrade produced a clear step forward.
Fernando Alonso has already expressed confidence in the direction of the revised car, with further Aston Martin gains expected from the AMR26B. For Williams, seeing another struggling rival make such rapid progress only reinforced the scale of its own development challenge.
Alex Albon’s mood changed dramatically over the Hungarian weekend, from determination on Friday to resignation after qualifying.
“Aston Martin is one of those teams we were supposed to be trying to beat, but when you see a step like that, we can only dream,” Alex Albon admitted.
“The comparison really opens your eyes, because we know exactly what our Baku package contains and it is absolutely not at that level.”
Alex Albon doubts Baku package can fix Williams
Sunday’s race did little to improve the outlook. Alex Albon acknowledged afterwards that Williams’ upcoming Azerbaijan upgrade had been defined too long ago to address all of the weaknesses that have subsequently become apparent.
“I strongly doubt that in Baku we will be able to solve the car’s structural weaknesses,” Alex Albon explained after the race.
“That package was defined a long time ago and a large part of the work we are doing today is unfortunately about making sure that next year’s car does not have these same weaknesses. It is extremely frustrating to work in these conditions.”
The comments underline an uncomfortable reality for Williams. The Baku package may improve performance, but it cannot incorporate every lesson learned from the first half of the season because its main architecture was already established before some of the FW48’s deeper problems had been fully understood.
James Vowles admits Williams is behind its rivals
James Vowles has echoed Alex Albon’s concerns and openly acknowledged the structural delays affecting the Grove organisation. Williams has been attempting to correct problems created during the difficult winter while simultaneously transferring resources towards the 2027 project.
The result has been a development rate that has allowed direct competitors to move further ahead.
“We have to be realistic and admit that we need to improve the rate at which we bring performance to the track, meaning the time it takes to go from an idea to the finished product,” James Vowles said.
“The main problem concerns the quantity and quality of the ideas we produce behind the scenes: we are not at the right level. What is happening around us clearly demonstrates that our rivals have engineering and operational capabilities that are superior to what we are able to deliver today.”
That is a significant admission for a team that had hoped Formula 1’s regulatory reset would accelerate its recovery rather than expose further weaknesses in its technical organisation.
Williams Baku upgrade will not be enough for regular points
The much-anticipated “B-spec” package planned for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has consequently been given more modest expectations. Earlier in the season, Baku had been identified as the point at which Williams would introduce a particularly substantial evolution of the FW48.
However, Aston Martin’s ability to produce a lighter and aerodynamically improved car has highlighted the gap Williams still needs to close. James Vowles no longer expects the Azerbaijan changes alone to return the team consistently to the top 10.
“The Baku upgrade will absolutely not be enough to bring us regularly back into the points,” James Vowles said. “That has to force us to ask some serious questions about what we can still salvage from this championship.”
The admission is especially concerning at the beginning of a new regulatory cycle, when development potential would normally be expected to remain substantial.
At Silverstone, James Vowles compared Williams’ internal restructuring to having to “fly an aeroplane while rebuilding it in the air”. The team principal explained that Williams needed to prove to itself that it could design, manufacture and introduce significant new components at the required Formula 1 standard while continuing to race.
So far, the results have not provided the reassurance Williams wanted. The organisation remains caught between improving the FW48, correcting long-standing operational weaknesses and ensuring that those same mistakes are not carried onto the 2027 car.
Carlos Sainz faces major decision over Williams future
That technical uncertainty inevitably brings the driver market into focus. Carlos Sainz’s future at Grove beyond 2026 has become increasingly uncertain as the Spaniard assesses whether Williams can deliver the progress that convinced him to join the project.
Carlos Sainz was attracted by assurances that Williams had concentrated substantial resources on Formula 1’s 2026 regulations. Finding himself instead driving an overweight and aerodynamically inefficient car with limited short-term development prospects has significantly complicated the picture.
The comparison with Audi is particularly uncomfortable. Carlos Sainz considered the German manufacturer before eventually choosing Williams, but Audi has shown a stronger development trajectory during its first season as a full works operation.
For Carlos Sainz, spending an entire campaign fighting near the back without a clear prospect of an immediate recovery would represent a major setback at an important stage of his career. His patience will therefore depend heavily on whether Williams can demonstrate that the technical and organisational problems exposed by the FW48 are being solved for 2027.
There is still time for the Baku package to produce an improvement, but Williams itself is no longer presenting it as a transformation capable of rescuing the season. The more important question now is whether the lessons from a painful 2026 campaign can prevent the same problems from defining the team’s future.
Leave a Reply