(Motorsport-Total.com) – Williams is far from writing off the 2026 Formula 1 season already. Although the team experienced a weak start to the season and is currently only in 8th place in the championship, James Vowles announces that they will make another push after the summer break.
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“It seems as if the season is already well advanced. In fact, we have only completed a third of the season,” the team principal reminds. The last Grand Prix in Barcelona was only the seventh of currently 22 races on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar.
“What I mean by that is: We still have time to fix and sort things out,” emphasizes Vowles. “But we have to make sure that we bring this performance into the car in time,” the team principal also knows.
That is why Williams has planned several update packages for the coming weeks. “We have brought performance [in the past races] and will continue to do so in the upcoming races,” reveals Vowles.
The recent race in Barcelona exposed the weaknesses of the FW48, and they have “developed a plan for the season on how we can fix and correct a number of these,” says Vowles, who announces several upgrades for the next races.
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“This will not happen all at once,” he emphasizes and explains: “Some of them will already come in Silverstone, maybe also in Spa. More will follow before the August break, and after the August break there will be quite a lot.”
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In fact, Williams will bring “a really largely new car” to the track after the summer break, reveals Vowles. Or in other words: A B-version of the FW48 is supposed to still save the team’s so far rather mixed season.
About the upcoming race in Austria this weekend, Vowles says: “I expect that we will no longer be as far behind as in Barcelona. But some of these problems cannot be fixed in the short term.”
“What was seen in Barcelona is more of a temporary weakness, which is related to some characteristics of the track and elements that are not quite right on the car yet,” says the team principal, who expects a better performance again in Spielberg after the zero score in Spain.
The big leap forward will come at the earliest after the summer break – if Williams manages it at all in 2026.
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