The Australian GP, the opening round of Formula 1 in 2026, revealed the true competitive level of the teams, but Williams‘ modest result was not surprising, as the team has been facing significant problems with the car since the beginning of the year. The team even missed the first week of pre-season testing in Barcelona.
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One of the main factors is the weight being above the ideal. With the new power unit regulations, excess weight has an even greater impact on performance, as it affects corner apex speed and energy recovery throughout the lap. According to team principal James Vowles, weight reduction is already planned, but it must respect the category’s budget cap:
“It’s not complicated to reduce [the weight],” Vowles said. “I already have in my inbox today all the engineering steps not just to reduce it, but to get under the weight by a good margin. This is within our reach. If this were a world without a cost cap, I would execute this tomorrow. It would be ready in a few weeks. But it isn’t.”
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Another problem during the Australian weekend was reliability. Carlos Sainz‘s car stopped at the pit entry during FP3 and could not be repaired in time for qualifying, which limited data collection. “It took a qualifying session to really see how far behind we are in that aspect [power unit management],” Vowles stated. “That’s probably three-tenths, something in that range. So, I think when you only have one car running, you need to have both to really start exchanging ideas and learning how to deploy the energy. […] But I think really the biggest part, the really big number, is the weight.”
Despite the difficulties, driver Alex Albon states that the team is already working to recover performance. “We have an aggressive plan to get back on track,” Albon said. “As aggressive as we can be, it’s still going to take time. But the team is working at full throttle.”
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