{"id":431474,"date":"2026-01-25T02:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/431474\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T02:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T02:50:11","slug":"alex-albon-sees-positives-in-williams-missing-barcelona-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/431474\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Albon sees positives in Williams missing Barcelona test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alex Albon gave his opinion on the announcement that Williams will miss the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/tag\/f1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Formula 1 <\/a>Barcelona shakedown to pursue further performance gains. <\/p>\n<p>While many teams won\u2019t be present at the start of the week in Barcelona, opting for a later start, most will arrive for their allotted three days of testing. However, Williams will not appear at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at all. <\/p>\n<p>This came after unconfirmed reports that the team remained overweight and had failed the FIA mandatory crash tests. <\/p>\n<p>With the 2026 regulatory overhaul, beginning the season prepared will be of utmost importance to each team. Williams opted to take the extra days and put all their time into developing the car, ready for Bahrain pre-season testing. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Carlos-Sainz-F1-Qatar-GP-1-1024x576.webp.webp\" alt=\"Williams will now miss the first pre-season test in Barcelona\" class=\"wp-image-236179\"  \/>Williams fans, as well as Alex Albon, will have to wait a little while longer to get back on track<\/p>\n<p>Alex Albon maintains \u2018full focus ahead\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.williamsf1.com\/articles\/6560b37e-5707-4239-a681-790e30167206\/team-statement-230126\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">team released a statement<\/a> that read: \u201cAtlassian Williams F1 Team has taken the decision not to participate in next week\u2019s shakedown test in Barcelona following delays in the FW48 programme as we continue to push for maximum car performance,\u201d read a short statement from the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe team will instead conduct a series of tests, including a VTT programme (virtual test track) next week with the 2026 car, to prepare for the first official test in Bahrain and the first race of the season in Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are looking forward to getting on track in the coming weeks and want to thank all our fans for your continued support \u2013 there is a lot to look forward to together in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Alex Albon remained positive, posting on Instagram about the team\u2019s decision. For the Thai-British driver, the choice was a natural conclusion of the team putting everything into their 2026 performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not how we wanted to start the year,\u201d the Thai-British driver wrote on Instagram, \u201cbut these things can happen when you are pushing the limits!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFull focus ahead!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsportweek.com\/2026\/01\/24\/lewis-hamilton-excited-for-new-beginnings-with-ferrari-in-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lewis Hamilton \u2018excited for new beginnings\u2019 with Ferrari in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Albon gave his opinion on the announcement that Williams will miss the Formula 1 Barcelona shakedown to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[3026,49,48,578,576,577,82,1196],"class_list":{"0":"post-431474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-alex-albon","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-williams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}