Williams Racing is fully aware that at the Qatar Grand Prix their FW47 cars will face significant challenges. The lack of aerodynamic downforce negatively impacts their performance in the long corners, making it very unlikely that their drivers Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz will be able to compete for points at the Lusail International Circuit.
Williams had already anticipated difficulties at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and those expectations were confirmed by the actual results. The Grove-based team’s performance projections now highlight another race where the FW47 cars are expected to struggle considerably: the Qatar Grand Prix.
At the Hungaroring circuit in Hungary, Williams drivers Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz finished the race in 15th and 14th place respectively, both positions far away from the points-paying top ten. For several seasons now, the cars developed by Williams have had a consistent weakness in handling long sweeping corners. This issue was also evident at the Spanish Grand Prix, held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Montmeló, which similarly provided little satisfaction or strong results for the team.
This explains why the upcoming Qatar Grand Prix, scheduled from November 28th to November 30th, nearly at the end of the current Formula 1 season, will likely be another difficult weekend for the Williams drivers Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz.
“Our problem will be very evident in Qatar as well,” said James Vowles, Team Principal of Williams Racing. “We know that the lack of downforce in long corners is a clear weakness of our FW47 car, but we have not invested resources during the 2025 season to fix this issue.”
The reason behind this decision is tied to the technical regulation changes set to take effect from January 2026. All Formula 1 teams, including Williams Racing, are heavily focused on developing their next-generation cars. These new cars will feature a radically different power unit architecture, splitting propulsion power between the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) and the internal combustion engine, which will run on environmentally sustainable fuels.
“We are very focused on the 2026 car development,” James Vowles continued. “We are already working on several technical aspects that will address the problems we currently face. However, as I have stated in the past, our primary attention is on 2026 and beyond. We do not want to spend valuable resources fixing an issue that only affects a few circuits during this current season.”
In summary, Williams Racing is strategically prioritizing their investment and technical development efforts for the 2026 Formula 1 season, fully aware that the remainder of 2025, including the Qatar Grand Prix, will present ongoing performance challenges for their current FW47 chassis, especially on tracks with fast and long corners like Lusail.
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