Williams came into the 2026 season full of high hopes, after topping the midfield last year and boasting a strong and settled driver line up of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz. Fresh from scoring two podiums last season, the Grove-based outfit had hoped to close the gap to the top teams \u2013 but that is not quite how this year has unfolded thus far. Here is the state of play at Williams\u2026<\/p>\n
How has the 2026 season gone so far?<\/p>\n
Williams<\/a> were the only team to miss the Barcelona Shakedown in its entirety, which was a less than ideal start to the year. Their absence was due to delays in the FW48 programme, but the team did make up for that with plenty of running during pre-season testing in Bahrain.<\/p>\n In fact, they managed the third-most laps of any team, only behind McLaren and Haas. With the Mercedes<\/a> power unit in the car, hopes were still high that Williams might have a good season and build on that 2025 form.<\/p>\n However, it became apparent that the car was significantly overweight, costing them plenty of lap time, and it appeared reliability was not on their side either. In Australia, Sainz<\/a> missed most of FP3 and failed to get out for Qualifying \u2013 though he did manage to start the race.<\/p>\n While both drivers finished in Melbourne, it was Albon\u2019s<\/a> turn for the lion\u2019s share of the bad luck in China, when he was unable to take part in the Grand Prix thanks to a hydraulics issue. Sainz did manage to score a welcome two points for Williams, their only top-10 result of the season so far.<\/p>\n He was helped by two top cars \u2013 the McLarens \u2013 not starting, and Max Verstappen<\/a> retiring from the Grand Prix, but the Spaniard did show that Williams can compete if the circumstances fall their way. For example, he was able to hold off Franco Colapinto\u2019s faster Alpine in the closing stages.<\/p>\n But that joy was short lived as, in Japan, the team fell backwards. Sainz finished 15th and Albon was down in P20 after turning the latter stages of the race into a test session.<\/p>\n Reasons to be hopeful<\/p>\n Under James Vowles, Williams have built a tight-knit unit of motivated people who are striving for success. It was this that attracted Sainz to sign for Williams, and the team will be working hard to recover some ground in the spring break.<\/p>\n Williams need to shed some weight from the car, that much is clear. If they can do so, they might find they are right in the thick of the midfield bunch, as they are running the Mercedes power unit \u2013 which Alpine<\/a> have shown can be exploited by teams other than the Silver Arrows.<\/p>\n In many ways, weight is an easy fix \u2013 and in some ways it is not. But at least, unlike some teams, Williams know exactly what they have to do to get back to regularly fighting for the points this year.<\/p>\n Reasons to be cautious<\/p>\n No team will be standing still \u2013 so while Williams may find some answers, so will the others. And in the past, it has taken teams a full season to shed weight from a heavy car, so Williams will know they are up against it in that regard.<\/p>\n