Wiliams boss James Vowles insists he has “confidence” in the team’s 2026 F1 car despite the “incredibly painful” decision to withdraw from this week’s pre-season test.
Vowles, who has long pinpointed 2026 as a year for Williams to target competing at the top end of Formula 1, surprisingly pulled his outfit out of this week’s ‘shakedown’ test due to “delays” with the team’s FW48 car.
There were suggestions that Williams had also failed mandatory FIA crash tests but the team principal revealed that his outfit have now passed those examinations and will be ready for the pre-season test in Bahrain on 11-13 February.
“It clearly wasn’t our plan [to miss Barcelona] and it’s incredibly painful,” Vowles said, in a conference call on Wednesday. “But it’s also our determination to push to the limits of the regulations.”
In explaining his decision, Vowles added: “There’s no point being just underneath the curb. We need to find the pinpoints and put them right very quickly. I’m confident in our decision to miss Barcelona. I’m pleased to say we’ve passed all necessary tests, we’re ready for Bahrain and we’ll carry out a promotional filming day before that.
“The car this year that we’ve built is about three times more complicated than anything we’ve put through our business before. The amount of load going through our system. We started falling a bit behind. In addition to that, we’ve pushed the boundaries in certain areas. It was only a blip in the grand scheme of things.”
Despite their absence from Barcelona this week, Vowles insisted that this year’s car is the best the team have produced ahead of his fourth season at the team and added that drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon have backed his decision.
“We could have made Barcelona testing, but I’d have to have turned upside-down the components on spares for Bahrain, Melbourne and beyond,” he said. “Frankly, there was zero point.
“I’m confident we won’t be behind [other teams] for the following reason: we’ve got six days of testing in representative conditions. We have the power unit and gearbox provided by Mercedes, who’ll be doing the running this week.
“The drivers stand shoulder to shoulder with me, they’re clearly disappointed. It isn’t the same but they both signed up for the journey of not one year, but to fight up at the top. We are going to push this team to the absolute limits to maximise our journey to the front. They are very much with the team, hand in hand.
On the performance of the car, Vowles added: “It’s impossible to tell, these are facts.
“Lap times in Barcelona don’t indicate where cars are on the timing sheet, but Bahrain will tell us that.”
Williams will unveil their 2026 livery next Tuesday, 3 February. The 2026 season starts with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 8 March.
