Williams targets a “universal” 2026 F1 car to improve performance across all tracks. Williams aims to develop a more versatile FW48 car for 2026 to overcome struggles in long corners..

Since the beginning of the 2025 Formula 1 season, the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend was marked with a red circle on the Williams calendar.

Over recent seasons, the Hungaroring has always been a challenging circuit for the Grove-based team. Looking at the cars from the current technical cycle—starting from 2022 to the present year—it’s clear that Williams has struggled to score points at the track near Budapest.

Despite a difficult start to the current regulation cycle, the team now led by James Vowles holds fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship with 70 points, 18 ahead of Aston Martin and 19 ahead of Sauber. Yet the Hungaroring remains a difficult track, and this year was no exception.

“Budapest has always been a tough circuit for the team,” said Carlos Sainz at the end of the Grand Prix weekend. “We had a rather long debrief after qualifying because, of course, I come from the team that achieved pole position (Ferrari) and returned to a team that yesterday was in 13th place with me behind the wheel.”

“I was able to provide very clear feedback on why this car is so slow on a circuit like this. Obviously, we can’t do anything about it this year, but hopefully this will be a big lesson for the team moving forward—so they understand how to develop the Formula 1 car to succeed and be competitive on circuits like Budapest or Barcelona.”

The chronic problem has been evident for some time now to the Grove design department. Williams cars struggle to perform competitively, especially in long corners—tracks like Barcelona and Hungaroring are particularly challenging—and this issue must not be carried over to the next car, the FW48 for 2026, when the technical regulations will change from the current ones.

“We have relatively poor aerodynamic characteristics in long corners, where it’s necessary to maintain downforce from the corner entry to the middle of the curve. We struggle in these situations. This has been a recurring trend for a long time. That’s why long straights and tight, fast corners are an advantage for the team,” Carlos Sainz continued.

“But right now, when we face the long, flowing corners at Barcelona, Hungary, and Qatar, the car really struggles. A radical change in design philosophy and approach is necessary for the future.”

“We are trying to understand where and what to change to ensure that next year’s car is more versatile and offers us a better platform to work on across multiple circuits.”