(Motorsport-Total.com) – Williams has been one of the biggest disappointments in the 2026 Formula 1 season so far. Currently, they have the third-worst car in the field, with only problem child Aston Martin and newcomer Cadillac trailing the Grove-based team in the World Championship after the first three races.
Read more Who slept the worst last night: George Russell
James Vowles therefore announces: “We must make the most of the next five weeks ahead of us.” The Japanese Grand Prix was once again “painful,” “but I want to make it the turning point,” the team principal emphasizes.
Because Williams now wants to use the April break “and ensure that we increase our performance in every subsequent race this year and work our way back towards the points positions every weekend,” says Vowles.
He explains: “The next five weeks will be among the toughest for us, and that is intentional. Because we will give everything to ensure that we return in Miami with a car that is worthy of scoring points.”
Sainz himself only in P15 despite a perfect race
Although Carlos Sainz already collected two World Championship points in China by finishing ninth, he benefited from numerous retirements. On its own merit, the FW48 is currently not a top-10 car, as positions 15 and 20 in Suzuka have shown once again.
“We got absolutely everything possible out of the car in the race today,” Carlos Sainz emphasizes after P15, and Vowles also explains: “It was a flawless drive, and he gave it his all. But that is simply the current state of the car.”
Suzuka: The driver ratings from Marc Surer and the editorial team
“Thanks to another solid start and a well-timed pit stop, we drove our best possible race,” Sainz assures. But although it was a more or less perfect race, he finished five places and around 15 seconds behind the points positions.
In the end, he was even more than half a minute behind Pierre Gasly in the best midfield car in P7. This shows how large Williams’ gap currently is within the chasing pack alone. Sainz was even more than a full minute behind the time of race winner Kimi Antonelli in the factory Mercedes.
Why Albon was two laps down in Japan
How hopeless the situation is at the moment is also shown by the fact that Alexander Albon’s race was sacrificed at the end to collect more data. “He drove excellently and then completed a test program that will be invaluable for us in terms of future insights,” Vowles explains.
Read more Who slept best last night: Franco Colapinto
Albon himself reports: “I was stuck in traffic during the race, so nothing really happened, and it became a kind of test drive as we wanted to try a few things on the front wing to understand it better and collect data.”
He saw the checkered flag as 20th and last, two laps down, after several pit stops in the closing stages. “Realistically, we are getting out what we can and driving our races as well as possible,” Albon emphasizes.
“But we just need to get a handle on some problems and bring a bit more speed to the car. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but as a team, we now have about five weeks left, so we can still improve quite a bit,” he hopes.
Sainz: “We need to press the reset button”
Teammate Sainz also explains that the cancellation of the two races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia could be an unexpected opportunity for Williams. In this context, he recalls that the team had to skip the shakedown in Barcelona in the winter.
Because there were delays with the new car, Williams has been carrying a deficit since the beginning of the year. The break now offers a chance to catch up. “I am confident that we can work hard in every single area during these five weeks,” Sainz explains to Sky.
For him, it’s not just about making the car faster. He explains: “We need to press the reset button.” Because what has been tried so far “hasn’t worked,” which is why the free time must be used to “develop a new plan.”
“While I can’t guarantee that we will be significantly more competitive in Miami,” the Spaniard says, “this five-week break can give us a big performance boost from the middle to the end of the season,” he hopes.
Williams therefore doesn’t just want to use the break until Miami for short-term performance gains. Rather, they want to position themselves better in the long term in order to then “achieve real progress in the performance of the car,” says Sainz.
Read more Mattia Binotto: Solving the starting problem at Audi is top priority