Williams will have a difficult start to the new Formula 1 season, as reports suggest that the team could miss the first week of winter testing in Barcelona entirely. According to the well-connected journalist Ralf Bach, the Grove-based team is dealing with serious technical issues that could prevent it from running its new car on schedule.
This would be a significant setback for a team that had been quietly optimistic ahead of the new season, particularly given the changes made over the winter.
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Optimism after winter progress
Williams, now fielding Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz as its driver pairing, was believed to have made solid progress during the off-season. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko had previously suggested that the British team had improved, raising hopes that Williams could be more competitive in the midfield.
Confidence was also boosted by the continued use of Mercedes power units. Several sources in the paddock suggested that the German manufacturer’s engine could set the standard at the start of the season, fuelling the belief that Williams might outperform its rivals.
However, that optimism now appears to be under threat.
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Concerns Over Barcelona Testing
In an interview with the German website, F1 Insider, Bach revealed that there are growing concerns within the paddock that Williams may not be ready to travel to Spain for the opening test session. Unlike McLaren, which delayed its winter testing programme as part of a planned development strategy, Williams’ potential absence would reportedly be due to unresolved technical problems.
According to Bach, there is a genuine possibility that Williams could miss the entire first week of testing in Barcelona, which would significantly compromise their preparation for the opening races of the season.
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Chassis weight at the centre of the issue
The reported problem centres on the car’s chassis. Bach claims that the structure may be overweight and does not currently meet the required standards, rendering it unsuitable for track running in its present form.
“What I’m hearing more and more often is that Williams might not even make it through the first week of testing in Barcelona,” Bach explained. “People are saying the chassis is simply too heavy and that they can’t solve it right now. I’m hearing that from multiple sources”
Reducing weight at this stage of the development cycle is notoriously difficult, as it can require significant redesign work and compromises elsewhere on the car.
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This would be a serious blow for the drivers and the team
Missing valuable testing time would set both Albon and Sainz back significantly, given that they have both spoken positively about Williams’ long-term direction and their ambitions for the coming seasons. Winter testing is crucial for performance development, reliability checks and driver adaptation.
Bach added that the situation could become clearer soon.
“If Williams does show up later, we can throw this story out the window,’ he said. ‘But if they’re not there, that’s a particularly bad sign.”
For now, Williams faces an anxious wait as the countdown to pre-season testing continues.
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Twelve hours after the initial reports emerged, Williams issued an official statement to clarify its position. The Grove-based outfit confirmed on its official channels that it will not be taking part in next week’s shakedown test in Barcelona.
‘Williams F1 Team has decided not to participate in next week’s shakedown test in Barcelona due to delays in the FW48 programme. We continue to strive for maximum car performance,’ the statement read.
The team stressed that the decision was made to ensure the best possible performance package, rather than rushing the car onto the track prematurely.
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Factory Focus and Alternative Testing Plan
Instead of running in Barcelona, Williams will remain at the factory and carry out a series of alternative tests. This includes a VTT (Virtual Test Track) programme using its 2026 car next week, aimed at refining correlation and preparation ahead of the first official pre-season test in Bahrain.
Williams believes this approach will enable them to make up for lost time and be better prepared for the Bahrain test and the opening race of the season in Melbourne.
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What should Williams do now?
With only one week remaining before the Bahrain test, Williams is in an intense race against time. While the factory offers a controlled environment in which to solve fundamental issues, the lack of early on-track data puts the team at a disadvantage compared to rivals who are already accumulating mileage.
One positive factor is the Mercedes engine. If the rumours in the paddock prove accurate and the power unit is among the best on the grid, Williams may still have a solid foundation once the chassis issues have been resolved.
However, time is running out. If the team is to be fully ready for the season opener in Australia on 8 March, critical progress must be made over the coming days.
Williams ended its statement on an optimistic note, thanking fans for their continued support and insisting that there is ‘much to look forward to together in 2026’.
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As Formula One’s most historic and successful team, Ferrari are persistently under the microscope more than any other competitor. In 2025, the decision was made to abandon the in season car development of the SF-25 after just six race weekends to the disappointment of both Lewis Hamilton and. Charles Leclerc.
The lack of upgrades took its toll during the second half of the year, as the Scuderia slipped from a comfortable second place in the constructors’ championship to a distant fourth come the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Whilst the SF-25 was a difficult car to drive, Charles Leclerc managed to rack up seven podiums across the season, although five of these were tellingly before the summer break.
Lewis Hamilton’s blockbuster move to Maranello ended in huge disappointment as the seven times world champion for the first time in his illustrious F1 career failed to make the podium on Sunday even once. Now the hopes of the tifosi are pinned on the extra time and resources Ferrari committed to the 2026 project and that the team will emerge as a front running contender.
Ferrari’s big reveal cock up
Yet the same old Ferrari organisation has turned up in 2026. Last week announcing Hamilton’s race engineer, Riccardo Adami, would be benched but as pre-season testing approaches no replacement has been appointed. The four and a half days Hamilton will now have in the Scuderia’s 2026 competitor will see Charles Leclerc’s engineer in his ear.
This is clearly less than ideal given the valuable time lost for Lewis and his new engineer to bond. Today Ferrari again demonstrated their shambolic organisation as they revealed their all new 2026 challenger online. The renders were immediately clear to be of the 2025 car which delivered zero victories in a season of woe.
The tifosi were quick to comment on the error and the uninspiring text associated with the pictures of the 2025 car which stated: “The 72nd (sic) Formula 1 car for Scuderia Ferrari HP is the first designed under the new regulations.”
When someone in Maranello woke up to their mistake, the renders were swiftly replaced with those relating to the 2026 car. The livery is striking and the engine cover is now completely white which resembles the car which Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen drove back in 2016. Ominously the SF-16 from ten years ago failed to win a Grand Prix, and so associating this year’s machine with that of 2016 appears to be another faux par in…CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.